Code Prophecy: Stars in the Night
by Bighoggi14
Summary: Book II The gang is back, and no worse for wear after their last deadly encounter with Xana. But when new friends arrive, Xana is trying new tactics. He's trying to recruit Macas! Can the Chosen One stay on the right path?
1. Beginning

**Yes, I finally managed to start the sequal to Code Prophecy: A Dark Secret. Summer vacation has officially started for me, so now updates will be coming fast, I promise.**

**If you haven't read Code Prophecy: A Dark Secret, you probably should. This isn't one of those series where in every book, they explain what happened in the last one. This is the kind of series where there's so many references to the last one you need to have read the last one to understand. And for those of you who haven't read it in a while, you might want to skim over it again. Just to refresh your memory. **

**Because it took me over a month to get this up, I have given you all a gift of two chapters to start out with! Besides, this starts out a little slow. So! On to the next Code Prophecy installment!**

**Code Prophecy: Stars in the Night**

By: Bighoggi14

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(Ulrich P.O.V.)

I woke up this morning, feeling extremely happy. Not just because it's Saturday, so I don't have school, but because of the events of yesterday. Everyone in our group narrowly made it out of Xana's clutches. Even Jeremie, who was taken by Xana himself, is now safely with us. He is in the infirmary, just for good measure. His parents are happy he is just alive. I stand up and stretch. I look at the alarm clock; it's nearly 9:00. Odd is snoring, as usual, so I toss a pillow in his direction. It lands on his face and he sits up.

"W-why do you always have to be so… mean when you wake me up?" He asks groggily.

"Ah, come on Odd, I'm not that mean." I say. Odd just grunts at me and stands up.

We both go and take our showers, even coming back at the same time. I get dressed in my normal attire, as does Odd. Even though, for Odd, that's an oxymoron. He always wears purple, all the way down to his shoes. He's even got a purple splotch in his blond hair. He says it's natural, that he was born with it. I'm not sure I believe him.

My normal attire isn't all that normal either though. Most of my clothes are either green or a green-ish tan. I wear a tan tank top with a green shirt unbuttoned over the top of that. Green cargo pants with pockets I love to stick my hands in. My white shoes are the only things that aren't green.

After we're dressed, we go down to breakfast. Of course breakfast is over by now, but they have vending machines down there. We stop just outside the mess hall, and Odd inserts a quarter into the machine.

"Now let's see… what to get, what to get. Not the soup, it tastes like dishwater." He says.

"Ah, the gourmet." I say. Odd always says the soup tastes like dishwater, and it does. Or at least, I take his word for it. I don't know what dishwater tastes like. As he makes his decision (like choosing which is less intolerable) I get a bag of chips for myself. He eventually gets the hot chocolate, which overall isn't much better than the dishwater- I mean soup.

"Come on Odd, let's go see Jeremie now." I say. Odd nods and finishes off his hot chocolate, tossing it into the garbage. As we walk, I pull out my cell phone.

"Who you calling? Wait, let me guess… hmm, Yumi?" Odd says. "Why do you always have to call her?"

"I don't always call her, just sometimes."

"Coughalwayscough." Odd says.

"Oh shut up Odd. At least I have a girlfriend." I say, putting my cell phone back in my pocket. I actually was going to call Yumi and tell her to meet us at the infirmary, but there is no way I was going to prove Odd right.

"Hey, no fair. That was uncalled for."

"You asked for it."

"Whatever. Hey, I'll race you there."

"You're on." I say, and we both take off running.

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(Yumi P.O.V.)

I groan and turn over in bed. I creak my eyes open at look at my alarm clock. It wasn't set; today is Saturday, so I've slept in. The red numbers are glaring at me, 8:43. I really slept in. I crawl out of bed and stretch, raising my arms high above my head, yawning. I walk sleepily down the hall and take my shower, returning to my bedroom fifteen minutes later. I quickly get dressed in my normal attire which consists of a long sleeved black t-shirt and black jeans with combat boots for the fun of it.

Heading downstairs for breakfast, mom doesn't answer when I call for her. I look around and see a note on the table.

**Yumi,**

**Went shopping today, I'll be back around 5:00. Take care of Hiroki; please don't leave him home by himself again. You can go to the school if you want, just take Hiroki along with you.**

**All my love,**

**Mom**

I pour myself a bowl of cold cereal for breakfast and go into the front room. Hiroki is there too, also with a bowl of cereal at his feet. He has the PS2 hooked up to the TV and he's playing one of his fighting games, Dragonball Z.

"Hey Yumi, you're up late."

"I was out late." I say fairly and sit down next to him. I begin munching on my cereal, Hiroki stops after every fight to take a couple bites of his own breakfast.

"Hey Yumi, do you want to play?" I set aside my now finished bowl and grab a controller.

"Sure, okay. Just go easy on me."

"Aww, why?" He says whining. I know he's just joking though.

"Because girls don't play video games like boys do."

"Oh fine, but just because you're a girl." He says and starts the game.

"How did you know how to do that?" he asks after I pull a lucky combo.

"I never reveal my secrets." I say. I look at my watch, it's nearly ten.

"Come on Hiroki, let's go to the school. I want to go visit my friends." I say, putting down the controller.

"Why can't I stay here?" He asks innocently.

"Oh no. Mom gave specific instructions to not leave you here alone. Remember what happened last time?" I ask, giving him an evil glare.

"Can't you just drop me off at Aaron's house on the way there?" He whines. Now that I think about it, that's not a bad idea. Ditch Hiroki at a friends house and spend the day with Ulrich? I like it.

"Okay. Go on and get ready for the day." I say. Hiroki runs upstairs to change out of his pajamas as I put away our bowls and the PS2. Hiroki dashes back down the stairs, all ready to go. He's just wearing a simple black hoodie with jeans. We head out the door and I lock it.

"Okay Hiroki, I'll be at the school," I say when we arrive at Aaron's house, "I have my cell phone if you need me. Do you remember the number?" He shakes his head.

"Nope, not a thing." He says smiling. I sigh.

"It's 253-… wait. Hold out your hand." He does so, and I take a pen from my pocket. I write my phone number on his hand, that way he won't forget it.

"There, that's it. Call me if you need anything." I say, and he smiles.

"Okay Yumi. Bye!" He says and walks inside where Aaron is waiting for him. I wave and walk towards the school. As I was waving, I noticed something on my right hand. It's a golden ring, nestled on my middle finger. Ulrich gave it to me last night, it's a promise ring. It's not too elaborate, Ulrich doesn't have much money. But he must have saved up for a while to be able to afford it. It has an intricately carved snake-like dragon circling the inside of the ring, while the outside says Ulrich heart Yumi. I didn't get much of a chance to look at it last night, but now I can admire it in all it's glory. As I walk towards the school, I twist the ring around my finger, a natural habit I have.

I walk into the school grounds, and my first thought is to go to the bench where we usually meet, but then I realize Jeremie is probably in the infirmary. So I turn in mid-stride and head towards the place where I am sure I will find the others.

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**Don't forget, there's another chapter right after this one. Make sure you check that out too.**


	2. New Girl

**No talking, just getting to the second chapter.**

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(Aelita P.O.V.) 

Jeremie is in the desert region, and he is calling to me. He isn't controlled by Xana, at least he doesn't look like it. His eyes are normal color, his jumpsuit and armor have changed from black and red to shades of blue. He's far away, but running towards me as fast as he can. When he reaches me, he smiles at me warmly, but something seems wrong. His smile isn't full of the… love… it usually is. Suddenly, his smile turns cold. His eyes become cold, black, and empty again. Even his clothes turn back to the menacing colors they were.

"Goodbye Aelita." He says in a horrible voice so unlike his own.

"Jeremie?" I ask, trying to keep my voice from shaking. Jeremie doesn't respond, he just pulls out his gun and puts it to my forehead.

"Aelita…." He says, still not taking the gun away.

"No… Jeremie please!" I say loudly.

"Aelita!" He says again, pushing me on the shoulder.

"Jeremie, what's wrong with you?" I ask, nearly on the verge of tears now.

"Aelita, wake up!" He says, and I open my eyes to find the face of Jeremie's mother looking at me concerned.

"Aelita, are you okay?" She asks, kneeling down next to me. I look around confused, trying to remember where I am. I see Jeremie lying on the bed sleeping, and suddenly I remember where I am. I'm in the infirmary, sleeping in one of the chairs.

This is where we took Jeremie last night after he got back. Yolanda wanted him to stay here overnight at least. He wasn't physically injured, but his clothes were torn, he was filthy. All a scheme plotted by Odd and me. Jeremie was supposedly kidnapped, but he was really taken by Xana. When we freed him, we had to come up with a cover story. Odd and I dragged Jeremie, who was pretending to be delirious, to the infirmary. Jeremie pretended to pass out as soon as we got in there. Yolanda kept him here overnight, but I wanted to stay. So I did, Odd left reluctantly to go to his room. I met Jeremie's parents late last night, but then they went to their hotel in the city.

"Did you have a nightmare?" She asks me. I realize that I have tears rolling down my face. I quickly wipe them away and stand up.

I look down and try to smooth out my wrinkled pink clothes. My pink hoodie looks fine, but the overalls/skirt it wrinkled and I can't get it out.

"Yes, but I'm okay now. Thanks for caring." I say. Jeremie is lying in bed asleep, Mrs. Belpois is now sitting in a different chair by his bed, next to Mr. Belpois. A girl I don't recognize is sitting in the corner, just watching us. I walk over and sit on Jeremie's bedside just as Dorothy, Odd, and Ulrich walk in. Yolanda and Dorothy each take half the week being on duty at school. Yolanda was yesterday, Dorothy today.

Jeremie looks really beat up, we did a good job. His blue turtleneck shirt is ripped in multiple places, his left shoulder is almost torn off because Ulrich went a little too far. His khaki shorts are mostly intact though, thank goodness. Yumi took the liberty of spreading dirt all over his face, arms and legs to make him look positively filthy.

"Hello Mrs. Stones. Mr. and Mrs. Belpois, it's nice to see Jeremie has such good friends and family." Dorothy says, smiling at us all.

"How is he?" I ask, faking concern. Dorothy smiles at me.

"He should be fine. As far as I can tell, he has no injuries whatsoever. He's very lucky. You can go ahead and wake him up now." She says. I smile my thanks and lean over close to Jeremie.

"Jeremie…" I say softly, "Jeremie…." I brush my hand across his cheek. He stirs and opens his eyes.

"Hi Aelita." He says quietly. Before I can stop him, he leans over and kisses me. I blush because I realize other people are in the room. I help him sit up, propped up on his pillows. He looks around.

"Hi Mom, Hi Dad. What are you doing here?" He looks like he's thinking, "Come to think of it, what am I doing here?"

"Jeremie dear, we were hoping you would know the answer." Mrs. Belpois says.

"How should I know? The last thing I remember is going to bed last night. Then I find myself here." Jeremie says effortlessly. He has become a pretty efficient liar.

"Jeremie, a couple of days ago… you disappeared." Odd says, catching on to our little lie.

"We found a bloodstain in your sheets. So we called the cops. They dusted for fingerprints, interrogated us, the whole routine. They couldn't figure out where you were." Ulrich adds on.

"But last night, Odd and I were walking through the park and we saw you lying face down on the ground, all beat up. So we brought you here." I finish.

"Do you remember anything?" Mr. Belpois asks.

"No, not a thing." Jeremie replies, putting his arm around me.

"Aelita, you're more than just friends, aren't you?" Mrs. Belpois asks me, and I blush.

"Uhh…." I say, not knowing how to respond.

"What is she talking about?" Jeremie asks me.

"Last night, we met Aelita. We asked her how she knew you and she said she was a good friend." Mrs. Belpois says.

"It's the truth…." I say quietly. Jeremie just shakes his head.

"Mom, Dad, meet my girlfriend: Aelita Stones. Aelita, these are my kind, wonderful, loving parents." He says, putting his arm around my shoulder. I blush deeply, but don't say anything.

"Well, it's nice to meet you again Aelita. Now that we know that little bit of information, it tends to cast a different light on what we perceive of you." Mr. Belpois says smiling.

"What does perceive mean?" Odd asks out of the blue.

"It's uh... kind of like looking. It's more like... how you look at things." I say, trying to explain it to Odd.

"Oh, okay." Somehow, I think Odd already knew that. Maybe he's just trying to get attention... or maybe I'm wrong. Actually, most likely I'm wrong.

"Uh, Jeremie, are you going to introduce us to your other friends?" Mr. Belpois asks politely.

"Oh yah. Mom, Dad, this is Ulrich Stern." Ulrich steps forward and shakes Jeremie's father's hand.

"My my, that's one mighty handshake you have there." He says, Ulrich just smiles.

"And my other friend is Odd." Jeremie says, sitting up straighter in his bed.

"Well, he does seem pretty strange by the way he dresses, but I would like to know his name first." Jeremie's dad says. Jeremie smiles, and Odd laughs.

"Odd Della Robbia, nice to meet you." He says, shaking his father's hand. Mr. Belpois turned red slightly as he realized that was his name.

"Sorry, I just assumed-" He begins, but Odd cuts him off.

"Don't worry about it. Everyone does it. I would have been more surprised if you had realized it was my name first off." Jeremie gets up off his bed and stands up, looking at himself.

"Wow, I'm really beat up, aren't I?" He says.

"Actually no, it looks like you weren't hurt at all. It's strange, only your clothes are torn up." I respond. At that moment, the girl who was sitting in the corner stands up, runs over, and hugs Jeremie tightly. Surprisingly enough, Jeremie hugs her back.

"Jamie! I didn't see you over there, why didn't you say anything?" He asks without letting go. The girl doesn't respond, just keeps hugging him.

"Jeremie, who is this?" I demand. I don't think anyone should hug my boyfriend like that except for me. At that moment, Yumi walks in.

"Hey, what the…" She says when she sees Jeremie. Jeremie quickly lets go, blushing, and so does the girl.

"No, no, it's not what you think." Jeremie says quickly.

"Well, you had better correct me then, because I'm thinking you have some kind of relation to this girl." I say, beginning to get angry. And of course, Macas walks in at that moment.

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**Mua ha ha, a small little cliffy this early in the story? I must be REALLY evil! Anyways, I will write up another chapter and post it soon. Then you get to learn who the mystery girl is.**

**R&R please, I'd like to know what you think of the new story! **


	3. Jamie

**To anyone who wants a bit of helpful advice: Do not get grounded off the computer by parentals the day you plan to update a story. Your reviewers will not be exactly happy with you.**

**Anyways, that's my feeble attempt at an apology. Sorry this took so long to update. Anyways, here's the third chapter.  
**

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(Macas P.O.V.) 

I would say I woke up this morning, all cheerful and happy, but I didn't. In fact, I didn't even wake up. Last night, after everyone had left to do their individual business, I stayed in the park. I watched the sun set, a beautiful sight to see. It got dark quickly, soon everything was in shadow. For some reason, it wasn't a foreboding shadow, but a welcoming shadow. Some people welcome the night. I watched as the sky turned into darker shades of blue and eventually into blackness. I watched in awe as the first stars came out.

The moon appeared, almost out of nothing. I saw it fade slowly into view, then it shone brighter than all the stars. I slid back down the tree, resting on the bottom most branch. And I stayed there all night. I don't remember what I thought about all night, but I remember feeling no tiredness at all. I was totally alert, and I still feel that way as I now walk through the gates of Kadic Academy. My newest home. I have probably been in more homes then most kids, never in one for more than 2 years at a time. But this is the first time I have stayed somewhere without my father. The first time I have been away from my sister. God I miss her.

When I enter, I head towards the infirmary, where I am sure I will find my new friends. I walk in through the front door, Dorothy is sitting in her office.

"Go ahead in, the others are already in there and Jeremie is awake." She says smiling at me.

"Thank you." I say and smile. If there is one good thing my father managed to beat into me, it's good manners. I always said please and thank you. I walk over to Jeremie's separate room, the only one in the infirmary. It's the one I was in, it's the one where they hold patients that may have to stay an extended time. Without bothering to knock, I open the door and step inside. Like Dorothy said, everyone and more is in there. And it looks like a strange scene is unfolding in front of me.

Ulrich, Odd and Yumi are standing on one side of the bed. Yumi and Ulrich are holding hands of course, being the couple they are. Odd is standing slightly aloof, watching Aelita, who is standing at the foot of what I am assuming is Jeremie's bed. Jeremie himself is standing next to his bed, his clothes just as torn up as they were last night when I helped do it. He is standing rather close to a girl, and he is blushing. Two adults are standing near the door, they look like Jeremie's parents.

As soon as I walk in, everyone stops for a second to look at me. Then, without a seconds hesitation, Aelita resumes her furious look at Jeremie.

"Well Jeremie?" Aelita looks angry enough to kill somebody, and I don't think she even recognizes it. I walk over and stand next to Odd. I lean over and whisper to him.

"Care to fill me in?"

"This girl came up all of the sudden and hugged Jeremie. He hugged her back and Aelita got mad."

"Ah, I see." The girl looks somewhat like Jeremie, with his blond hair, although it's significantly darker. She's wearing a simple yellow hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans. But the way she looks, the way she holds herself, it just seems to resemble Jeremie. It seems very likely that they're related, siblings or cousins or something of the like. But as I look at her, one thought goes through my mind.

_She's beautiful…_.

"Uh, guys, I would like you to meet my sister, Jamie." He says, looking at us all.

_Bingo._

Aelita's face instantly softens as she realizes her mistake.

"Sorry." She says blushing. Jeremie walks over and puts his arm around her. Jeremie's parents exit the room, leaving us alone to talk. Jeremie turns back to Jamie, and smiles at her.

"Jamie, these are my friends. This is Aelita, my girlfriend." Aelita smiles at her and Jamie gives her back a mesmerizing smile.

"This is Ulrich and Yumi."

"Hi Jamie." Yumi says and Ulrich nods. Jamie just keeps smiling.

"He's Odd."

"Hi Jamie, nice to meet you." He says, waving to her, Jamie waves back.

"And this is Macas." Once again, Jamie just smiles at me, but she makes eye contact. Her eyes are a strange color, different than anything I have seen before. They're dark red. Not an evil or malevolent red, more like a friendly and mysterious red. It's entrancing. I thought I saw I bit of pink on her cheeks when she broke eye contact, but I could be wrong.

"You know Jamie, I haven't heard you say a word since I came in here." I say, smiling at her.

"You know what? Neither have I." Ulrich says.

"Are you mute?" Odd asks. Yumi promptly turns around and smacks him upside the head, and everyone laughs, including Jamie. I can barely hear her above Jeremie, but it will definitely be a sound I will not soon forget.

"Odd! You don't just ask someone if they're mute!" She shouts at him. Odd ducks and throws his hands over his head as if to protect himself from further assault.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" He yells before Yumi can hit him again. Yumi lowers her hand and Odd stands up.

"What if she really is mute though? Is there a way I can ask without uh…" He backs away from Yumi, "Getting myself smacked by Yumi?" He asks carefully.

"You could ask if she is incapable of speech." I say, helping out my poor friend.

"Okay… Jeremie, is Jamie incapompatible of speech?" Odd says, making everyone laugh again.

"Odd, I said incapable. Not incapompatible." I say.

"Incapompatible, inescapable, whatever." He says, shrugging it off. I just roll my eyes and turn back towards where Jeremie is. Jamie looks at him pleadingly.

"You can talk, I don't have to say everything for you." He says. Jamie hunches her shoulder and turns away a little bit, almost as if she's afraid of us.

"Jamie, it's okay, you can talk to us." I say gently.

"She's kind of shy." Jeremie says.

"Kind of like you were on your first day, right Einstein?" Odd says and laughs.

"Hey Odd, that's not funny." Jeremie says indignantly.

"Well you were!"

"Yah, well-" Jeremie begins to say but is cut off.

"Hi Macas." Jamie says to me. I smile at her.

"Hello Jamie. Nice to finally hear your voice." I say.

_Why did she say hi to me? I thought she was going to say just 'hi' or 'hello.' But no, she directly addressed me._

"She talks!" Odd says loudly. Jamie instantly shuts her mouth, obviously refusing to say anything more.

"Odd!" Yumi says and smacks him upside the head again.

And so the hilarity ensues until about ten minutes later when Jeremie's parents come back in. Jamie still hasn't spoken to anyone except me.

"Uh, son, I just got a call. I have an issue at work that I need to take care of."

"That's okay Dad, you can go. I know you have a long car drive ahead of you." Jeremie says.

"If you want, we can stay here for a couple more days. We were planning to stay because you were gone, so I took the time off of work to come. This whole thing is a fluke that they need me there for."

"Okay then, you can go."

"Are you sure? I don't have to, I'm sure they can fix it without me."

"No Dad, you're the smartest one there. Go ahead, go fix the problem."

"Are you going to be okay honey?" Jeremie's mom asks.

"I'll be fine Mom. The nurse is probably going to go ahead and check me out today. Go ahead and go." Jeremie insists.

"Okay honey, I know there's no changing your mind now. But I want you to call us if you have any problems, okay?" Jeremie smiles.

"Okay Mom."

Jeremie's mom walks over and hugs him, as does his Dad. They then depart from the room, and Jamie follows them.

"Bye Jamie!" Everyone says except me.

"Bye Jamie, I hope I see you again. It was nice to meet you." I say.

"Bye Macas." She says quietly. I smile surprised, and she walks out the door smiling. I walk over to the window and watch as they get into their small car and drive off.

"Ooh, does Macas have a crush?" Odd says teasingly as I turn around.

"W-wait, say what?" I say loudly. "What makes you think I would have a crush?"

"You locked eyes with her."

"I looked at her and she looked at me. Big deal, it happens."

"She only spoke to you."

"So? That doesn't have anything to do with what I feel."

"You just watched her drive off."

"I would have done that for anyone. I have a habit of watching people as they leave."

"Yah… well…." I feel good, Odd has run out of arguments.

"Besides, all of those things point to the fact that she would have a crush on me, not the other way around." I say, finishing the conversation.

"Ooh, getting hopeful, are we?" Ulrich says, bringing a laugh out of everyone. I just roll my eyes.

"Yah whatever. You guys can think what you want. Can we please get off this subject now?" I say pleadingly. Odd looks ready to say something else when Dorothy walks in.

"Okay Jeremie, you are free to go now. I suggest you go back to your dorm and take a shower. If you feel any pain, or nausea, or anything at all, make sure you come here immediately. We still have no idea what happened when you were missing, and someone could have done something to you." Jeremie smiles.

"Okay, thanks Dorothy." Jeremie strides out of the room confidently, as though to show that there's nothing wrong. Aelita walks beside him, and the rest of us file out. As soon as we get outside, Jeremie grabs Aelita's hand.

"See you guys later, I'm going to go take a shower." He says. He kisses Aelita on the cheek and walks off.

"Hold on Jeremie, I'll come along." Aelita says. This surprises everyone, and Jeremie blushes.

"Uh, Aelita? What are you planning on doing while Jeremie's taking his shower?" Ulrich asks carefully.

"Uh… I don't know. I'll find something to do." She says.

"How about you come with us Aelita? That way, Jeremie won't be abducted by the tomato clan." Odd says and we all stare at him. Absolutely no one laughs until I realize what he meant. Then, I start laughing.

"Odd, you are an idiot!" I say between bouts of laughter. Absolutely no one else seems to get it, but Odd looks at me knowingly. After a second, Jeremie bursts out laughing.

"Odd, that was the stupidest thing I have heard all day! Even stupider than that mute thing." After another second, Aelita starts laughing along, leaving Ulrich and Yumi looking bewildered.

"Okay guys, what color is a tomato?" I say, trying to help them out. "Think to yourself about the color of a tomato." I think Yumi finally gets it, she slaps her head and lets out a sigh.

"Odd, you are stupid." She says without laughing. Eventually, everyone else stops laughing long enough to help out Ulrich.

"Haha, I stumped Ulrich!" Odd says laughing.

"Odd, you only stumped him because it's so stupid." Aelita says.

"Ulrich, when you figure it out, you are going to hit Odd, just because it is so stupid." I say.

"I have no idea. And as a matter of fact, I don't want to know."

"Oh come on Ulrich."

"Ulrich, what color is a tomato?" Jeremie asks.

"Red."

"What color was Jeremie's face?" Yumi adds.

"Red… so what, he was comparing Jeremie to a tomato? That's not that funny."

"No, the 'tomato clan' was going to abduct Jeremie because they thought he was one of them because he was so red." I finish explaining. Ulrich immediately turns to Odd and makes a fist. Just before it makes contact, Odd hops away and runs off. Unfortunately, Ulrich is faster, so he will be caught in a matter of seconds. I stop and turn away just before Ulrich lands on top of Odd and look at Jeremie.

"Have a nice shower Jeremie, we had better go make sure that Ulrich doesn't kill Odd." I say and walk off. Yumi nods and follows me. I see Aelita quickly kiss Jeremie on the cheek before coming along. Jeremie heads off to his room.

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**Hmmm... no. No comments for you. You review, I update. That's how it works in this place. See? So! Review more, I update sooner! And trust me, this story gets better soon.**


	4. Fan Club

(Macas P.O.V.)

Deciding we had nothing better to do, we played soccer. Jeremie hadn't come back yet, so it was going t be 2 on 3. Ulrich and Yumi vs. Odd, Aelita and me. The game started off kind of rocky, we found out soon that Aelita isn't a very good goalie. Not horrible, but she missed more than half the shots. So after about half an hour, Ulrich's team is leading us 7-2.

"Come on Macas, let's keep the game going!" Ulrich yells, he just scored another point. Ulrich has already taken his shirt off because of the heat. Even though it's early spring, it's fairly warm. Odd quickly runs over to the sidelines and pulls off his shirt too, much to the excitement of all our cheering fans.

About five minutes after we started, people started showing up and watching, most of them girls looking at Ulrich. They screamed in excitement when he had taken his shirt off.

"Alright Macas, let's try this again." Odd says running past me. I hurry up to catch up with him. Ulrich throws the ball up in the air, about ten feet, and it comes crashing down. Odd quickly takes it and passes it to me, and I sprint down the field with it. Yumi quickly catches up and begins running beside me. She sticks her foot out, kicking the ball towards my left and we both sprint after it. I get it first, and quickly kick it up. I head it overtop of Yumi's head and sprint past her again. Before she can catch up, I kick it hard, letting it soar into the goal.

"Macas! Macas! Macas!" I hear the fans cheering my name, which is different. I look over and see something I have definitely never seen before. About 3 girls are holding a sign that says 'we heart Macas!' in big red letters, and it's right next to an identical one with Ulrich's name on it. I jog back to the middle of the field. Everyone is there, including the goalies. Ulrich pats me on the back.

"Well Macas, it looks like you've got yourself your first fan club." He says.

"Really? That's kind of creepy."

"Yah, it feels that way for about the first… forever. But you get used to it." He says smiling.

"That's no fair! He's only been here like a week, and he has a fan club! I've been here for I don't know how long!" Odd says in protest.

"Well, you aren't as cute as Macas." Yumi says, and I feel my face redden immediately.

"Yumi!" Ulrich says loudly.

"Oh calm down, I was just trying to make him blush. This is only the second time he's ever done that you know."

"You know, I've got to admit…." Aelita says smirking. And my face just starts burning up.

"Aelita!" Odd says. "You already have a boyfriend, Jeremie!"

"I was just seeing if I could make him blush, and it worked!" She says.

"Can we please just get on with the game?" I say, not really asking. I take the ball and put it in the center. So without further discussion, we start playing again. But I feel my concentration slipping, the girls who are yelling my name are distracting me. I find myself constantly looking back over at them.

_Why would they be cheering for me, of all people?_

I ended up letting Ulrich score again. Odd calls me over to centerfield.

"Macas, what's going on?" He asks, folding his arms.

"I just can't concentrate with all those girls cheering."

"Man, just ignore them. Remember, they're fans, not friends. Keep yourself away from them and you'll be okay." Ulrich says.

"It's not as easy as it looks."

"Get used to it. Once they've decided they like you, it's really hard to get them off." Ulrich says.

"How about we just end this? Next point wins?" Odd suggests.

"Okay, that works." Ulrich says. This time, I switch positions with Aelita. I'll be goalie, and she'll be out on defense. This time around, everyone is giving it their all. The ball goes back and forth a couple of times before Ulrich breaks through.

"Macas! We love you!" I hear them yelling, distracting me for a split second.

"Macas!" Odd yells from across the field. Ulrich kicked the ball towards the opposite end of the goal from where I am, and because of the cheering girls I didn't notice. I quickly run across and dive for the ball. I misjudged the distance and the ball hits my shoulder hard. I must have spun a full 360 degrees before I finally hit the ground. The ball goes flying up into the air, but no one seems to notice. Ulrich, Odd, Yumi and Aelita are all running towards me. I quickly sit up despite my pounding headache.

"Hey, are you alright?" Odd asks as soon as he reaches me.

"Yah, my head hurts but that's about it." I say, blinking to try and get rid of the spots forming in front of my eyes..

"But what about your shoulder?" Ulrich asks.

"It's just a soccer ball, it doesn't hurt that bad."

"But… all those bruises?" Yumi says quietly. I just smile back at her.

"Gone."

"Say what?" They all ask together.

"Gone." I repeat and pull off my jacket. I really just kept it on out of habit, besides I don't get hot easily anyway. So I pull of my jacket, just leaving my white tank top. My arms are completely bare, and there's no sign I had any bruises anyway.

"There's plenty of scars, I doubt those will ever fade, but the bruises are gone." I say with a smile. As I stand up again, I realize the girls are cheering harder.

"Here Macas, try to keep as covered up as possible. It only encourages your fans." Ulrich says as he hands me back my jacket. I put it back on with a sheepish smile.

"I'm impressed Macas. Ulrich didn't have this many fans until after his first major soccer game, where everyone saw him." Odd says. "You're doing really good for yourself."

"Okay, subject change please." I say. "Look, here comes Jeremie." Jeremie walks over with a newspaper in hand.

"Hey guys. Macas, you might want to look at this." He says, handing me the paper. It's the Kadic Tribune, obviously the school newspaper. The front page has a large picture of me from the side, with the title 'Too Soon to Judge' above it. I scan the article quickly, it's talking about my trial.

"Macas Keloly is a new student, only moving to this school last Friday, but yet he has already heaped upon himself a mound of trouble. He was accused of beating up Miss Yumi Ishiyama, an upperclassman, and was even caught on tape. He already had a rumor spread about him that he was in fact dating Miss Ishiyama, a rumor that this newspaper helped to dissipate. But somehow, his trial has been cancelled, and Mr. Delmas refused to comment." I read aloud to the rest.

"It's today's paper. It seems that the fan girls of the school have taken a liking to you. Where did they get that photo?" Jeremie explains.

"I have no idea. They must have taken it when I wasn't looking."

"So now Ulrich has some competition." Odd comments with a sly smile.

"Pft, Macas can have all the fangirls, he wants, as long as it keeps them off my back."

"Thanks a lot Ulrich." I say rolling my eyes. "So how about we end this game now and call it a tie?"

"Agreed." Everyone else says together. We walk back to Jeremie's dorm, despite the disappointed fans.

"Well guys, I figured out how Xana managed to possess William without it activating my superscan." Jeremie says as soon as we enter his room.

"Really? How?" Aelita asks.

"He activated a tower in sector five. My scanner wasn't programmed to scan there, so it didn't pick it up. We don't have to worry about that anymore."

"So I take it that we have a tower to go deactivate now?" Odd says gleefully.

"Nope. Xana deactivated it himself. I have no idea why." Jeremie responds, sitting down in his computer chair and turning back to his screen. He brings up a program and begins typing, most likely Aelita's anti-virus. After about five minutes, the lunch bell rings.

"It's eating time!" Odd yells and runs out of the room.

"Come on Jeremie, let's go eat." Aelita says, pulling Jeremie out of his chair.

"Okay, I guess." And so we all head out to lunch.


	5. Mashed Potatoes and GRAVY!

**Sorry, I was planning on updating earlier this week, but document manager wasn't letting me. Anyways, thanks for all the support you guys have given me in continuing to write this sequal.**

* * *

(Odd P.O.V.) 

The rest of the day, in fact the next couple of days are uneventful. Everyone is happy to see Jeremie back, but everyone seems to be wondering what happened. Besides the fact that Jeremie got kidnapped, Macas almost got expelled for beating up one of his new friends, then he was in the infirmary, he got out without any side effects, the same thing happened with Yumi, and then Jeremie comes back completely unharmed. And of course, the most popular boy in school, Ulrich, is now dating one of his best friends. As I walk by, I hear everyone talking about us, how we're unlucky, but yet we must have guardian angels and everything.

Xana has been totally silent this entire time, not one tower activated, not even in the sector five. Jeremie says he's planning his next attack, but I think he just got a big whooping and is nursing his wounds.

One day, Ulrich and I decided to find out if Sissi was stupid enough to fall for the same trick twice. We sent a text message to both Herb and Sissi, telling them to meet each other at the garden shed. We didn't tell them they were meeting each other of course, that would ruin the fun. So we had Macas hide in the bushes one on side with a camera, Ulrich on the other and I would hide up the trail a little ways. As planned, Sissi walked up the path carrying her little pink purse. She walked up and looked inside the shed, but there was no one in there. About thirty seconds later, Herb walks up the same trail.

"Hey Sissi, what are you doing here?" He asks her, looking around. He's even blushing, this is great.

"I was going to ask you the same question. I'm supposed to be meeting someone here, and I don't want you here when they do, so scram."

"I'm supposed to be meeting someone here too. Did you send me a text message?" Herb asks, walking behind her and looking inside the shed himself.

"No, why would I?" She asks indignantly.

"I don't know." Sissi turns around and taps her foot impatiently. This is perfect timing for me. I quickly reach down and remove the leash off Kiwi, my dog.

"Go get her Kiwi, go!" I say quietly, pointing towards Sissi. Kiwi takes off running, just when Herb turns around. Sissi spots Kiwi running at her, barking furiously, and tries to turn to the left to get out of the way. Kiwi jumps and hits her on her left shoulder, spinning her around. She stumbles over herself and falls smack dab into Herb's arms. They both stumble, but Herb holds her up, both of them blushing furiously. Macas quickly stands up and takes a picture with the digital camera, but neither of them seem to notice. They're too busy looking at each other.

"Kiwi, come here boy. Come here." Kiwi comes running back to me and I pick him up, putting his leash back on. I walk away and meet up with Ulrich and Macas over by the school.

"Well, that wasn't as fun as I expected." I say disappointed.

"I know. They weren't exactly supposed to do that." Ulrich says equally disappointed.

"Oh well, we just gave Millie and Tamiya a good scoop though. They'll probably be the first to hear about Herb and Sissi's new relationship, if there is one." Macas comments.

"Yah, there's one good point. Man, I could really use a laugh right now, that was a major disappointment." I say, but as if on cue, Ulrich's phone rings.

"Hey. Yah. I've got Odd and Macas here with me. What about? Jeremie?" Ulrich hangs up the phone and puts it back in his pocket.

"Jeremie wants us to meet him at his room, he has something he wants to tell us."

"Did he say what?"

"Nope, he hung up too quickly. You guys head over there, I'm going to go pick up Yumi."

"Okay, just hurry." Macas says and Ulrich runs off towards the front entrance of the school. Macas and I walk back towards the dorms, not talking much.

"What do you think Jeremie wants to talk about?" Macas asks, breaking the silence.

"Maybe Aelita's antivirus?" I suggest, shrugging my shoulders.

"Maybe. But somehow I don't think so."

"Who knows, it could be almost anything. But it's probably pretty important if he's calling everyone together."

"Yah, most likely." We stop and Jeremie's door and I knock.

"Come on in." He calls from inside. Macas opens the door and we walk inside. Jeremie is sitting on his computer chair, but he's not facing the computer for a change. He facing the bed, where Aelita is comfortably sitting and laying against the wall.

"Hey Jeremie, what's this all about?" I ask, but Jeremie just shakes his head.

"I'll tell you when Ulrich and Yumi get here."

"Well, in that case…" I reach in my pocket and take out a small video game I had left there this morning on accident. I sit down on Jeremie's bed, lay against the wall like Aelita is doing, and turn it on. It's only Tetris Annihilator, but it's still very addictive. I sit and play for a couple minutes before the door opens. Yumi and Ulrich walk in, hand in hand.

"Okay Jeremie, what's this about?"

"Uh… you guys remember Jamie, right? My sister?"

"Of course," I respond, "Who could forget the mute?" Before I can even move, Aelita turns around and smacks me upside the head. "Ow!" I yell out.

"Go on Jeremie." Yumi says impatiently.

"Well, I just got a call from my parents. She got into a fight at her school yesterday with another girl."

"Is she okay?" Macas asks.

"She's fine, at least physically."

"What do you mean?" Macas asks again.

"Well, since she had no previous record of any troublemaking, they decided to let her off with a warning. Before this, she had never been in any trouble whatsoever, not even a tardy."

"Then why did she do it?"

"I don't know. She and the girl she got into a fight with refused to say why. But the most surprising thing of all is that when they let her off with a warning, she started yelling."

"Say what?"

"She began yelling at the principal, using cuss words even. Without any more warnings, she was expelled."

"Jamie got expelled for cussing at the principal?" Ulrich says incredulously.

"Yah, it's strange. She's always been quiet, and now this."

"What are they going to do with her now?" I ask, dodging another blow from Aelita.

"That's why I brought you all here to tell you this. They're going to send Jamie here to live with me."

"Woah, that was unexpected."

"Yah. But there's bad news. I really, really do not want to expose Jamie to the fight against Xana. I don't want to put her in any harms way, and she's never been exceptionally strong like Yumi or Ulrich. I just wanted to know if you guys support that." There's complete silence while everyone contemplates.

"Jeremie, this is your decision. If you decide it's best for Jamie not to, then don't. You're her older brother, and it's your choice." Yumi says. Everyone nods their heads in agreement.

"Thanks guys. I already talked to the principal about it, and he decided that it would be acceptable for Jamie to sleep in here, considering the fact that we're family. I know he wouldn't do that for anyone else. That means we're treading on thin ice here, and we have to be careful not to get into too much trouble."

"We understand Jeremie. Don't worry, I'll be a perfect angel." I make a circle with my fingers and put it above my head, like a halo.

"You had better Odd."

"When is she coming?" Macas asks.

"Late tonight."

"That's really soon." Ulrich replies.

"Yah, I know."

"C'mon guys, it's almost dinner time!" I yell, jumping up.

"Alright, you guys can go, but I want to talk to Macas and Odd really quick." Jeremie says. Macas walks over and sits on the bed while Aelita, Ulrich and Yumi walk outside. I try and tiptoe outside, but I get caught.

"Odd, he said he wants to talk to us. That means you need to stay.

"Oh come on, it's mashed potatoes and gravy tonight!"

"I'll only be a minute Odd."

"Oh fine. You have sixty seconds," I say, looking at my pretend watch, "Starting now." I say, pointing to my empty wrist.

"Okay, can either of you figure out why I asked you two to stay?" Jeremie asks. I sit and ponder for about, oh… 2.3 seconds. I can't concentrate very well, knowing that there's mashed potatoes and gravy waiting for me.

"I don't know… okay, time's up." I say, springing back up off the bed. Jeremie grabs my wrist and sets me back down.

"We're both the only single guys." Macas says quietly.

"Right, I'm impressed. How did you figure that out?" Jeremie replies.

"Well, you are obviously protective of Jamie, because you don't want to expose her to Xana, and…." Macas begins, but I interrupt him with a yawn.

"Come on, just get to the point." I say quickly.

"Let's just say Jamie has always been shy and bashful. I've usually had to look out for her, but I haven't ever since I came to Kadic and she stayed."

"Faster faster…" I say, bouncing up and down on the bed.

"Odd, you're acting like a five year old."

"No, I'm four." I say, holding up three fingers. I think Jeremie just chooses to ignore that last statement.

"Alright, I just want to say that since you are the only guys who aren't taken, I don't want any funny business with my sister, okay?"

"Okay Jeremie, way to lay down the law. Now let's go." I say, jumping up. Whether Jeremie knows it or not, I was paying attention. And I intend to brake that law he just set down many times, just to annoy him. That's what I do.

"Okay Odd, you can go." Without waiting for anything else, I take off sprinting down the hall towards the stairs. I slide down the handrail and make it down in record time. I keep sprinting until I make it to the cafeteria, where they just began serving. I get through the line and make it to the table before even Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita do. I'm done and have already gotten a second plate before Macas and Jeremie arrive.

"So Odd, what did Jeremie talk to you about?" Yumi asks. I just shrug my shoulders.

"Macas?" Yumi asks again.

"It wasn't anything all that important, I just needed to talk to them a little bit. Nothing that concerns you." Jeremie says quickly. Macas just shrugs his shoulders and nods.

"Thanks a lot for the info guys." Yumi says frowning.

"That's what we're good for!" I say loudly, finishing off the last of the mashed potatoes.

* * *

**I had a lot of fun writing that, I hope you all had fun reading it. Anyways, review please!**


	6. SemiExplanation

**I wasn't planning on updating this soon. But a certain somone convinced me otherwise, and besides, I left off at a bad point last chapter. So! Here it is, another chapter quickly updated by me! Everyone thank AngElle because if it weren't for her, this story probably wouldn't have been updated for another week. (She reads my stories and constantly reminds me to update)**

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(Odd P.O.V.) 

"So Odd, what did Jeremie really want?" Ulrich asks me later that night. We were both sitting in our room, not really tired, waiting for something to happen.

"Ah, he basically told me to keep my mitts off of Jamie, or else."

"You'd better watch out, Jeremie can be pretty dangerous if he's angry. Especially about family."

"Yah, whatever." I say, and we go back into a comfortable silence.

Eventually I begin to doze, still fully clothed, but my phone wakes me up. I check the clock, it's about 11:00. I groggily grab it and press the talk button.

"Huh waddaya want?" I say, not even bothering to talk clearly.

"Jamie is almost here. My parents just called me and they will be here in about ten minutes. I was wondering if you guys wanted to come down and welcome her slash carry her stuff up to my room."

"Uh sure, but I think I'll stick to the first part."

"I knew you'd say that."

"Well duh, do I look like a pack mule to you?"

"No, but you act like one. Come on down, I'm at the front entrance."

"Okay Einstein, we'll be there in about… oh…" I hear a click on the other end of the line, signaling me that Jeremie wants me to shut up.

"Hey Ulrich." I say, looking up. Ulrich is asleep, one arm draped over his bedpost, his back arched over it. It looks really uncomfortable.

"Hey Ulrich." He still doesn't respond. I lazily take my phone and throw it at him, it hits him in the stomach and he jerks awake.

"Hey, what was that for?" He asks, looking down at my phone.

"You wouldn't wake up and I was too lazy to get up. So I threw my phone at you."

"Thanks Odd."

"Jeremie just called, Jamie is almost here. He wants us to come down and 'welcome' her. You know what that means." I say with a grin.

"Uh uh. You are not going to do anything to anyone tonight, especially Jamie. Remember, she's shy. And most likely she won't take it well if you do something inappropriate."

"Yah, whatever. Let's go."

* * *

(Ulrich P.O.V.) 

We ended up meeting Macas along the way, apparently Jeremie had just called him too. We go down to the main entrance but only have to wait for about thirty seconds before they show up. Jeremie and Aelita were already there, but we decided to let Yumi stay at home, considering the distance she would have to walk.

Mr. and Mrs. Belpois get out of the car first, Jamie is sleeping in the backseat. Mrs. Belpois opens the back car door and gently wakes her up while Mr. Belpois opens the trunk.

"Sorry, she tends to sleep for long car rides."

"That's okay Mom." Jeremie says as Jamie gets out of the car.

"Hi Jeremie!" Jamie says, running over and hugging him. I noticed Aelita twitch, most likely involuntarily, as Jeremie hugs her back.

"Jamie, do you remember my friends?" He asks, turning her to face us. She just nods her head.

_Is she ever going to address anyone but Jeremie or Macas directly?_

"Okay Jamie here's your stuff. Will you be okay taking it up to your room? We have to be going."

"Don't worry Dad, we have plenty of man power here. We'll get her stuff up here. Go ahead and go."

"Sorry we just had to come and go sweetie." Mrs. Belpois says, giving Jeremie and Jamie a hug.

"No problem Mom. No go ahead, you have a long day tomorrow and a long car trip ahead of you."

"Bye Son. We'll call you later."

"Okay, bye Dad." As soon as they drive off and are out of sight, Odd approaches Jamie.

"Hey Jamie, are you available Friday? 'Cause I was hoping maybe we could go see a movie, then make out, and eventually make love to each other- " That's as far as Odd got, because by the time he got there, I had him in a full nelson and was dragging him away. I dropped him on the ground over on the grass and walked back.

"I would like to make a formal apology in the absence of Odd. It was just a joke, something Odd has no idea when to stop." I say, glaring at Odd, who is sitting over on the grass and grinning like a madman. Jamie is blushing furiously, covering her face with her hands.

"Would you like me to go and hit him for you?" Macas asks. Jamie nods her head. Macas grins and turns toward Odd, fist raised and ready. Odd screams like a girl and takes off running.

"Eh, I'll get him tomorrow." Macas says. "Here, I'll get your bags." He walks over, slings the backpack over his shoulder and grabs a box. There's still a suitcase left, which I grab.

"Come on Jamie, we'll show you to your room." I say, and we walk off. Odd pokes his head out of the bushes a couple times but runs away when I glare at him. We get to Jeremie's and Jamie's room and drop off the stuff. Jeremie had an extra bed moved in so Jamie could sleep there too, and now about half the space was gone. Jeremie's computer was off, but I'm sure by now it's triple password protected. Jeremie leaves really quick to take Aelita back to her room, so Macas and I are left with Jamie.

* * *

(Jamie P.O.V.) 

As soon as Jeremie leaves, I feel a strong sense of fear wash over me. The only person I know in this school has left me alone with two boys I barely know. Macas seems alright, I can just feel it. But Ulrich, I'm not so sure… Ulrich looks like a lot of popular boys back at my old school, the kind of boys where you can't trust them as far as you can throw them.

_No, it's okay. Jeremie wouldn't leave me here if he thought Ulrich would hurt me… right?_

"So Jamie, remind me again why you were sent here?" Macas asks nicely. I look at him strangely for a second,

_I thought Jeremie would have told them already…_

"I got in a fight." I say quietly. I always use as concise words and sentences as I can.

"With who?"

"One of my friends."

"Why did you fight with one of your friends?" I choose not to respond.

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad."

"It is." I say simply, and Jeremie comes back. I immediately feel better.

"Well, Jamie, would you like a grand tour of my room?" I nod my head, wondering what he's going to say. It's not very big, just large enough for the both of us to sleep and live comfortably.

"Okay then… here's my room. This concludes our tour." He says, and I can't help but laugh.

"Alright guys, we can get settled now. You can go ahead back to your rooms." Jeremie says. Macas and Ulrich both nod and depart. I sit down on my bed, smoothing out the sheets around me. Jeremie sits down in his computer chair.

"So… do you want to say why you got in a fight with your best friend?" He asks, gentle as always, but he still shocks me.

"How did you know she was my best friend?"

"Mom told me on the phone. But don't avoid the question. Also, why did you swear at the principal? I've never heard you swear before."

"No."

"You won't tell me?"

"No."

"Oh come on, you can tell me anything. I'm your brother, that's what I'm here for." I decide he's right. If I can't tell him, who can I?

"I wanted to be kicked out." Jeremie looks at me even stranger.

"Why would you want to be kicked out?"

"Because… I wanted to come here."

"Why?" I don't answer his question, I just stand up.

"I'm going to go to bed. Do you have somewhere I can change?" Jeremie looks surprised at my request, and the sudden change of subject.

"Well, either the girl's bathroom downstairs or you can change here and I won't look." I consider my options before reaching into my suitcase and pulling out some PJ's.

"Promise you won't look?"

"Come on Jamie, you know I wouldn't do that." He spins around on the computer chair until he's facing the wall. When I'm satisfied he isn't looking, I quickly change and flop on my bed. Jeremie turns around and walks over to me. He grabs my pillow and a blanket and hands them to me.

"Thanks." I rest my head on my soft pillow and cover myself with the blanket. Before I know it, my eyes are closed and I'm drifting off to sleep.

"G'night Jamie." Jeremie says from far away.

"G'nigh…."

* * *

**Not much to say here... i'm too tired... review please!**


	7. Pathetic Password

**I am DEFINITELY not on the computer when I'm not supposed to be... . >.> you guys aren't gonna tell on me, right? So, before I get caughtefied, I will post this short chapter...**

* * *

(Jamie P.O.V.) 

I wake up slowly when someone puts their hand on my shoulder and pushes me gently.

"Jamie… wake up…" The person says.

"Go away Cassie, let me sleep a bit longer." I mumble.

"Who's Cassie?" They ask. This time I realize it's a boy's voice and I sit up quickly. Relief washes over me as I realize it was just Jeremie. I forgot that I moved here yesterday.

"My old roommate." I say shortly, getting up and stretching. Then Jeremie had to ask the question I knew was coming.

"Was she the girl you got in a fight with?" I turn around and look at him. It was a simple enough question, but it just made me angry.

"Yeah." I reply. I grab a change of clothes and head for the door. On second thought, I turn around and face Jeremie again.

"Where are the girl's showers?"

"Uh… bottom floor, on your left, I think." He replies after a moment. Just his reply showed me two things. One, he knew his way around the school fairly well. Two, since it took him a while to remember exactly where the girl's showers were, he's not perverted.

"Thanks." I walk out the door and downstairs. As it turns out, it was on the right side, but oh well, I found it just the same. Unfortunately, there was a line about three miles long waiting to get in.

I just get in line, but it isn't moving. No one is going in or out. The girl in front of me turns around and looks at me. She's wearing simple green pajamas, it matches her eyes.

"Are you new here?" I nod my head.

"My name is Carly."

"Jamie."

"Well Jamie, I bet your wondering why the line is so long." I nod my head again.

"Sissi is in there. She wakes up early and refuses to let anyone else in until she's done. Sissi Delmas is the most stuck up girl in school, she's the principal's daughter." I nod my head in understanding.

"You don't talk much do you?" She asks. I just shake my head and smile. Suddenly, I feel hands being pressed over my eyes from behind.

"Guess who?" A familiar voice says. I just shrug my shoulders.

"Oh come on, it's not that hard." She says again. This time I remember who it is.

"Aelita?"

"Bingo!" She says, taking her hands away as I turn around to face her. "You know, that was a very bad thing you just did." She says with a sly smile. I just cock my head to one side, not understanding.

"What did I do?" I ask quietly.

"You proved to me you could talk." She says with a big grin on her face.

"I'll try to fix that." I say with a small smile.

We got in sooner than I thought we would, I think because some girl at the front picked the lock, letting everyone else in. Afterwards, I headed back up to mine and Jeremie's room. He wasn't there, I figured he probably went to go take a shower himself.

Considering I didn't know my way around, I decided to wait there. Having nothing better to do, I sit down and turn on Jeremie's computer. It boots up, but there's one solitary word on the screen.

**Password?**

I have absolutely no idea what his password would be, so I sit and think for a minute. After trying everything I can think of (mostly just the names of his friends) I rest my head on my elbow. I look around on his desk, there's a notebook with a bunch of equations on it. I pick it up and look at it.

_I knew Jeremie was smart, but not this smart._

There's one word that seems to come up a couple times. Lyoko. It must be some foreign language or something. Or maybe not. I usually see it next to normal words, like scanner program for Lyoko, or Lyoko virtual beings, or things like that. I type in LYOKO on his computer and it beeps.

**PASSWORD ACCEPTED**

_Woah, that was easy._

I'm not very computer-minded, but I think it might be a genetic trait. I know my way around, just a little bit. I open some of Jeremie's personal files, mostly a journal. But there's a couple files that I can't access. Anti-virus, Lyoko Profiles, and Materialization are just a few.

"Jamie? What are you doing?" I spin around to see Jeremie has just walked in. He leans to his left and his eyes go wide as he sees I'm on his computer,

"How did you get on my computer? It's password protected!" I turn around and sheepishly hand him the notebook. Jeremie just slaps himself on the forehead.

"I knew I should have chosen a better password." He mumbles to himself.

"Sorry Jeremie."

"That's okay Jamie. Did you see anything… important?"

"No. I didn't have any time." I say, and he lets out a sigh of relief.

"Well, I need you to please stay off this computer. It's very important, and it has some really important things on it. Can you do that for me?"

"Uh huh." I say absent-mindedly.

_What could possibly be so important he doesn't want his own sister to see?_

Jeremie quickly locks his computer up again and leads me outside. He locks the door, and we head outside.

"We're going to breakfast now. I suggest that you get as little of the side dishes as possible. The cooks usually spend more time on the main course, so it tastes better." I don't respond. After a couple minutes of silence, I finally blurt out.

"What's Lyoko?" I can feel him tense up considerably, even though I'm not touching him.

"Lyoko… is a game I'm trying to make. It's really hard, and I've been working on it for a long time, so I would appreciate it if you wouldn't mess with anything on my computer."

"Okay, I guess." We get to the cafeteria and get in line. I don't take very much food, I'm not really hungry. Just a little bit of French toast and milk. We both sit down at a table where Ulrich, Odd, Aelita and Macas are already sitting.

"Hey guys." Ulrich says, not really looking up.

"Hey Ulrich, what's wrong?" Jeremie asks as he sits down.

"Ah, nothing. Just a rough night."

"How so?"

"I lost my earplugs." He says quietly. Jeremie and Macas start laughing, Odd scowl, but I don't think either Aelita or I get it.

"Come on Ulrich, it can't be that bad." Odd says after swallowing a bit of French toast whole.

"Odd, you snore so loud, a bullhorn would be jealous." Ulrich says, and everyone bursts out laughing. Well, except Odd.

* * *

**Kinda short, quick and easy, but it's better than nothing, right? Please review, even though its 90 percent filler.**


	8. Pooltime fun

**Mmm... no commentary this chapter. I've neglected updating... so here's the next chapter. Review please!  
**

* * *

(Macas P.O.V.) 

After class, we all meet up at the bench. Jeremie and I just came from Computer Programming, so we're talking about most of the stuff that's going on in that class. Odd and Ulrich came from PE, so they're kind of tired. Yumi came from English, Aelita had art. A strange feeling enters my gut, but I ignore it.

"Hey guys, why so tired?" I ask when Ulrich and Odd collapse on the ground next to the bench.

"We ran the damn mile, AGAIN." Odd says.

"Jim is probably trying to kill us." Ulrich adds, and they both burst out in tired laughter.

"I think you guys are just so tired you're delirious." Yumi says.

"I don't know what you're…" Odd starts, but before he finishes, he tilts his head back against the bench and begins to fake snore. Everyone begins to laugh, except Ulrich.

"Man, this is nothing compared to the real thing." He mutters, just loud enough for everyone to hear. That just brings out more laughter, from everyone except Odd.

"Yah well, once you go to sleep, I wake up every couple hours. 'Oh Yumi… Yumi I love you so much… I want to stay with you forever…' I can't sleep either." Ulrich blushes a deep red at this, bringing laughter from everyone except me. I can't shake that feeling I have.

Ulrich and Odd go back and forth for a while, trying to see who can best each other. Eventually, they get smacked upside the head by Yumi and Aelita for a comment they made. Finally, I think I realize what the feeling is.

"Does anyone else feel like there's something missing?" I say, and everyone looks at me.

"No… not really." Odd says.

"Me neither…" Aelita agrees.

"Actually, I do…" Jeremie says. Suddenly, he looks around. "Jamie!" He says loudly, smacking himself on the forehead.

"Jeremie, you idiot! How could you forget about your sister?" Yumi says.

"I'll go get her. What's her last class?" I say.

"Uh… I think it was science." He says, and I take off running for Mrs. Hertz's class. I reach it, but there's a group of people standing around it. I push my way through, and find Sissi talking to Jamie.

"Okay fine, I'll take that bet." Sissi says. Suddenly, she turns around and goes completely pale.

"Macas! What are you doing here?" She practically screams at me. I notice everyone seems to be staring at me now.

"I came here to find Jamie. What's going on here?" I say, my curiosity piqued. I have only seen Jeremie talk to either me or Jeremie, so why would she talk to Sissi?

"Oh, nothing," She says, returning to her normal calm demeanor, "just a friendly wager."

"And what was that?" I ask, completely calm.

"None of your business!" She yells at me, her calm demeanor vanishing as suddenly as it came.

"Okay then. Hey Jamie, the others are waiting for us." I say to her. She looks at me for a second. She holds up one finger, gesturing for me to wait a second. She walks up to Sissi and puts her hands on her hips, glaring at her.

"Okay, okay. You won. I'll leave Ulrich alone." Sissi says grudgingly. After that, Jamie just walks over to me. She smiles and we walk out of the crowd.

"So… what was that about?" I ask her. She just smiles at me.

"You made a bet with Sissi about something, and you won so she's going to leave Ulrich alone?" She nods.

"How did you win?" That's an question she can't answer without talking.

"I bet you would be the one to come find me." She says.

"How did you know it would be me?"

"I saw you through a gap in the crowd." I turn to look at her, she's smiling mischievously.

"You cheated." I say simply.

"It isn't cheating unless you get caught." I just start laughing. Suddenly, a girl walks up to me.

"Hi there." I say.

"H-hi Macas. M-my name is Kate." She says like she's nervous.

"Hi Kate." I say kindly.

"I was wondering… if maybe… you would like to do something with me later? Go and get some ice cream or something?" She says quickly. This completely startled me.

_Did she just ask me out on a date?_

"Uh… sorry. I've got plans." I say, and she looks disappointed. Before I can say another word, she runs off.

"Who was that?" Jamie asks.

"I have absolutely no idea. Some of the girls at school have a newfound interest in me, if you know what I mean." We walk rather quickly back to the others, where Jeremie profusely apologizes to Jamie as I tell Ulrich what happened to me.

"Holy shit! She just asked you out on a date? Do you even know her?" Odd cuts in.

"Nope, never seen her before."

"Well, I think you're bound to get a lot more of them. Don't worry about rejecting them, they usually don't take it too hard. At least they didn't for me."

"Well, doesn't Ulrich just sound like the voice of authority on the matter?" Yumi says laughing.

"I definitely didn't ask to be." He says defensively. I plop down on the cool grass next to Ulrich, and just listen to everyone else talk.

* * *

The next day is a sweltering hot one. It must be at least 90 degrees outside. Today is the first time all year I've taken off my jacket, and just gone with a white t-shirt.

Everyone is wearing less today, and a lot of girls are complaining about the heat.

Most surprising of all, Yumi decided to not wear black today. Instead, she's gone with denim shorts and a white spaghetti strap t-shirt. I saw Ulrich practically drool when he saw her. Jeremie ditched his turtleneck for a more favorable t-shirt, but it's still blue. Odd didn't change one bit. Typical.

During class, all the windows were wide open in hope of tempting in a non-existent breeze. After school, we were all sitting in the shade of the park, which was much cooler than the heat of the school courtyard.

Then, Jamie, of all people, made a suggestion.

"Is there a pool anywhere around here?" She asks to no one in particular.

"Jamie! That's genius!" I say. Ulrich says there's a pool in town, not too far away. So we all rush back to our rooms to grab swimsuits and meet in the park. We take off for the pool, which is surprisingly enough not crowded. A couple minutes after I enter the locker room and change, a steady stream of guys from our school pours in. We get out to the pool and realize that we lead a whole bunch of people here. Tons of people from our school have showed up, but not enough to overcrowd the pool. It's a large one, thank goodness.

Yumi is wearing a black one piece, Aelita pink, and Jamie yellow.

_Damn… Jamie looks hott… holy shit, did I just think that?_

I try to slap myself out of it, literally. I slap myself across the face, making everyone laugh.

"What was that for?" Yumi says with a knowing smile.

"Uh…" I try to think fast, "we just led the majority of the school here." Luckily, no one second guesses me, except for Yumi. She still seems skeptical.

Jeremie is wearing blue trunks, Ulrich green, Odd purple and I'm wearing red. We see the girls walk up to the edge of the pool and look in. I look over and see Ulrich and Odd wearing the same mischievous smile I am. Jeremie looks at us weirdly, we all just point to the girls, and he grins too. We all walk over quietly until we're standing right behind them. Ulrich behind Yumi, Jeremie behind Aelita, and me behind Jamie. Odd is apparently just content to watch.

Jeremie and I look at Ulrich, who is in the middle. He holds up three fingers, then two, then one. When he closes his fist, we all push the girls into the water. They land with a big splash.

Right when they hit the water, I feel hands on my back pushing me in too. I quickly jump so I don't land on the girls, and land with a splash. I resurface and look at Odd, who is giving Ulrich a high five.

I quickly swim back to the edge and hop out of the water. Odd sees me and begins to run.

"Hey! Stop running!" The lifeguard yells at him, so Odd slows to a stop. As soon as the lifeguard looks away, I grab Odd around the waist. He begins to squeal like a pig before I chuck him headfirst into the water.

* * *

(Jamie P.O.V.)

I resurface and look around. Just like me, Yumi and Aelita were both pushed into the water. Suddenly, I see Macas appear beside me and then he swims to the edge. He quickly climbs out, and after a minute, throws Odd in headfirst, making a huge splash. I laugh with everyone else, but my mind is somewhere else. I look at Macas and get goosebumps.

_He's ripped…how did he get so strong?_

Eventually, everyone else jumps in too, so we're all in the water. Somehow, Macas and Odd decide to find out who is a better diver. So, they both climb out and appoint me as judge. They walk over to the diving board and Odd goes first.

Odd jumps and dives in. His legs are curved slightly so he splashes slightly.

Macas dives in as well, as causes a splash the same size as Odd's, but his just looked cleaner. They both surface and look to me. After a second of thought, I point to Macas.

"Ha! I win!" He says, thrusting his fist in the air. Odd just looks grumpy.

"I think somebody is biased." He says. I just splash him. I see Macas climb out of the pool and sit on the edge. I swim over and sit next to him, he even helped me up.

"Hey Jamie, what's up?" He asks me.

"Nothing. I just saw you sitting over here all alone." I say.

"So you wanted to keep me company?" He asks. I just nod my head. We just sit there for a couple minutes, watching the others splash each other and stuff.

"Macas, how did you get so strong?" I finally blurt out.

"What makes you think I'm strong?" He asks me, almost defensively. I motion towards his muscular upper body.

"Oh. I don't know. I just… I worked a lot at home. Eventually, I just got tougher and tougher."

"So you are strong?"

"Some people would say so."

"Show me." Without saying anything else, he wraps one arm around my waist and gently grabs my leg. He then proceeds to pick me up bridal style, with only one arm, and walks up to the pool deck.

"Wow." I say quietly, and he sets me back down again. We walk back over and sit on the edge again, our feet resting in the water.

"So Jamie, is there anything you're really good at?" He asks after a minute.

"Nuh uh." I say quietly.

"Oh come on. Everyone has some talent. What's yours?" He says, and I stay quiet.

"Are you embarrassed to say it?"

"No. I play piano." I say again, a little bit firmer.

"See, I knew there was something you were good at. I like playing piano too, but I'm no good at it."

"You can play piano?"

"Just a little bit." He says before we get doused by water.

"Come on you lovebirds! Get in the water!" Odd says after he splashed us. He quickly swims away after seeing the look Macas gave him.

"Excuse me for a minute Jamie. I've got to go kill Odd." He stands up on the side of the pool. Using the edge as something to push of from, he dives into the water after Odd. Before Odd knew what hit him, he was underwater with Macas on top of him. After a couple seconds he lets him up.

"Now Odd… do…again?" Macas says, but I can barely hear him over the noise of the pool. I see Odd nod his head, and Macas dives under the water. He grabs Odd by the feet, and launches him out of the water. He falls back in with a huge splash.

"Okay, okay. I won't do that again…" Odd says loudly when he surfaces. Macas then swims back to me.

"Come on Jamie, we're here to have fun, not talk. Get in the water!" He says, I just shake my head.

"Oh come on." I shake my head again. "Don't make me pull you in…" I shake my head again and grab onto the edge of the pool.

"Okay, you asked for it." He grabs on my feet and pulls. I feel my grip on the edge failing, Macas really is strong. Eventually, I can't hold on any longer, and Macas pulls me into the water, screaming and laughing the whole way.

"No fair! You're stronger than me!"

"And you knew it too." I just glare at him. We mess around in the pool for probably about another hour, but soon the pool get so crowded, its standing room only. In unspoken consent, we all get out of the overcrowded pool.

"I think it's time to go back." Ulrich says.

"I agree. We basically led everyone here." Jeremie agrees. We all head to the locker room, but it was just as crowded in there. It took Aelita, Yumi and me ten minutes to take the shower, get to our locker, and change because of the crowds.

"Jeez, what took you girls so long?" Ulrich asks when we finally get out.

"The fact that there's about 30 girls packed into that small locker room."

"Oh. I thought you were just taking your sweet ol' time, blow drying your hair and everything." Odd says, smiling,

"We didn't get any time to at all." Yumi says. To prove it, she shakes her head vigorously, spraying everyone with water.

"Hey! Cut it out!" Aelita yells, she's standing right next to her and getting drenched.

"C'mon, let's go see if we can find something cool to do back at school." Jeremie says, and we all head out.


	9. Sister?

**It's only been four days since I last updated, so I'm not doing all that bad. Anyways, brace yourself for something amazing to happen in this chapter, but I'm going to stop talking before I give it away!**

* * *

(Jamie P.O.V.) 

"Macas!" Someone yells. Suddenly, a brown blur flies past me and tackles Macas. He goes flying to the ground, completely taken by surprise.

As he's lying there, I realize that the brown blur was a girl's hair. Right now, she's on top of Macas, hugging him like she actually knows him.

We were walking back to Jeremie's room from the park, where we hung out all day.

"Hey!" Macas yells, and he hugs her back. When he does, I feel a wave of jealousy wash over me.

_Wait, why am I jealous? I barely even know Macas… I don't have any feelings for him… right?_

Macas stands up, helping the girl up. She's wearing a simple dark orange t-shirt with blue jeans. She has long dark brown hair that goes down past her shoulders.

"Uh… Macas? Mind explaining?" Yumi asks. Macas looks around sheepishly.

"Uh, guys, I would like you to meet my sister Karyssa." Different expressions cross everyone's face. Yumi, Aelita and Jeremie just stare as though it was Jesus Christ himself in front of them. Ulrich's mouth drops to about his knees, and Odd just stares like he's seen a ghost. I hear Karyssa start laughing.

_They all know something I don't…_

"Uh… guys?" Macas says, waving his hand in front of him. Everyone shakes their head and smiles.

"Karyssa, this is Ulrich, Jeremie, Yumi, Aelita, and Jamie. Oh yah, and he's Odd."

"He's Odd? I don't understand, what's his name?" She asks.

"That's his name. His name is Odd."

"Oh! I get it. Hi Odd."

"H-Hi Karyssa." Odd says slowly.

"Ah, Karyssa. I see you've already found your brother." I turn to see Mr. Delmas walking up with another man I don't recognize.

"Good, that means we don't have to." The man says. The man looks familiar, like I've seen him somewhere before. Mr. Delmas turns to the man.

"I understand her condition. Do you think Macas will be able to handle her needs?"

"Well, let's hope so. I'm sorry about this, but I need to get going. I have a long car drive back, and not much time to do it."

"I understand. I hope you have a safe drive."

"Thank you. Macas, Karyssa." He says with a curt nod.

"Sir." Macas says with a nod of his own. He seems to be glaring at him. I've seen on anime on TV, that when two people don't like each other, and they're glaring at each other, lightning flies between their eyes. If it were possible at all, I'm sure it would be happening now.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Karyssa has her things in my car."

"We'll help." Ulrich says almost instantly. The man, who I realize must be Mr. Keloly, leads us over to his black Porsche and pops open the trunk. There's a couple small bags inside and a backpack. Macas grabs the two bags, and Odd grabs the backpack.

"I'll be off now. Macas, take good care of your sister." He says before hopping in the car and driving away.

"Now then. I've decided that considering Karyssa's special circumstances, I will put her with someone she knows. Or at least, will come to know. Aelita, do you mind if she shares your room?" Mr. Delmas says.

"No, of course not."

"Good. Now, here's her schedule," He hands a slip of paper to Macas, "I'm assuming you will show her around?"

"Yes, of course."

"Good. I have to be going now. Please, take good care of your sister."

"I will sir." Macas says. Mr. Delmas smiles and walks off.

"Okay, let's go show Karyssa to her room." Macas says before walking off. As we walk, Macas points out the different buildings to Karyssa, who takes it all in eagerly.

"What's science?" She asks when he points out the science building. I definitely raise an eyebrow at that one.

Mr. Delmas said she had a condition… is she slow or something? 

Macas explains to her in simple terms what science is, and she picks it up fairly easily.

"Hey Karyssa, how old are you?" I eventually ask. She looks younger than Macas, but she can't be that young. After all, she is in high school like the rest of us.

"Uh…" Karyssa says.

_How could she not know her own age?_

"She's fourteen. Only a year younger than me." Macas says, helping her out.

"Shouldn't she be in eighth grade then?" Ulrich asks.

"Well, yah. But she was bumped up a grade, she skipped seventh."

"Oh." We reach Aelita's room, and Karyssa immediately takes a liking to it.

"I like it. It'll be cozy…" She says. Jim has already added an extra bed in there, and Karyssa flops down on it.

"We'll leave you guys alone to unpack and stuff." Jeremie says. He leads everyone outside except for Macas, Karyssa and Aelita.

"So, what now?" Ulrich asks.

"Well, we can go over to the bench for a little while before it's time for dinner."

"Sounds good to me." Odd says. Ulrich grabs Yumi's hand and we all walk out.

(Macas P.O.V.)

After getting Karyssa settled in, we head for dinner. We find everyone sitting down at our table like normal, but we're running out of room. These tables only hold eight people, unless you put chairs on the ends.

"Whatever happened to our small little group?" Odd comments when everyone has sat down.

"Yah," Ulrich adds, "It used to be just me, Odd, Yumi, Jeremie and Aelita. Now we have eight people."

"How about we do some seating rearrangements?" Jeremie suggests.

"Oh, that's my job." Yumi says immediately. She stands up and walks to the end of the table. After thinking for a second, she points out where everyone gets to sit.

Of course, Ulrich is next to Yumi, and Jeremie next to Aelita. But then she puts me next to Jamie, and Odd next to Karyssa.

Something tells me Yumi is trying to play matchmaker… 

Everyone quickly rearranges, and the first thing Ulrich does is put his arm around Yumi. Jeremie follows suit, and then Odd.

"Hey hey! Odd! Hands off the little sister!" I say quickly. I feel the need to protect my sister, just like a brother should, but Odd just gives me a look that says 'make me.'

Meanwhile, everyone at the table is either laughing or giggling, including Karyssa. What surprises me most is Karyssa puts her arm around Odd's shoulders.

"I like you Odd, you're funny." She says, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Immediately, Odd blushes a deep shade of red, making everyone laugh. I even let myself laugh a little.

After dinner, I lead Karyssa to Jeremie's room along with everyone else. We all sit down on either Jeremie's or my bed, except for Jeremie, who sits in his computer chair. We sit and talk about the normal stuff, except for Jamie and Karyssa. Jamie almost never talks, and Karyssa doesn't seem to have much to say. But after a while, at almost 9:00, Karyssa yawns.

I watch carefully as her head slowly droops, drifting slowly onto Odd's shoulder. He's the one sitting next to her, by no fault of his own.

"Well, this is interesting." I say with a smile.

"Hey Macas, does anyone ever call her Krys? It seems a bit easier to say than Karyssa." Odd says, looking at her.

"I never have. I've heard some of her friends at her old school call her that, before… uh… the incident." I say, looking at Jamie. She raises an eyebrow at me.

"Jamie, as you probably realized, Karyssa has a mental condition. About oh… a year or so ago, she had an… accident." I look at Jeremie, who nods slowly.

"Karyssa basically has lost the ability to remember things. Both her long term and short term memory is heavily impaired. By tomorrow morning, she most likely won't remember any of you." Jamie looks shocked by the news.

"Sorry… I thought she was…" Jamie says quietly, but doesn't continue.

"Retarded?" I ask. She nods her head.

"She's not. She was actually very smart. And still is. Did you notice how easily she took in information? She just has problems remembering it all. All she knows her name, a little about herself, and who I am. And that took months." Jamie nods.

"Aelita, she's going to be living with you, so most likely she's going to be able to remember you first. But not tomorrow. So when she wakes up in the morning, try to be patient with her, okay?" Aelita nods. "She's usually fairly receptive to strangers, so she won't try to report you or anything. Just see if you can get her to remember you."

"Okay."

"The best way I've figured to describe her is naïve. But, since she doesn't remember anything, she doesn't get less naïve." I figure the more everyone knows about Karyssa, the better it will be. "But sometimes she surprises me and remembers something. I think its best described as selective memory."

"I'm going to go and take her to bed now. Aelita, would you like to come too?" I ask. Aelita nods her head and stands up. She quickly give Jeremie and kiss and walks out the door. I carefully walk over to Karyssa and pick her up bridal style.

"What, is she not capable of walking there herself?" Odd says, looking at me strangely.

"Yah, she is. But trust me, you don't want to wake her up. It won't be pretty."

I carefully carry her out of the room, downstairs and into Aelita's room. I set her down on her bed, which is already decorated with dark orange sheets.

"Okay Aelita, I'll have my cell on. Just call me if you have any problems with her, okay?" Aelita nods.

"I will. But I doubt she'll be any trouble."

"Thanks Aelita."

"No problem." I walk back upstairs and into Jeremie's room. After a couple more minutes, we decide it's time for bed. I go back into my room and crawl into bed, my mind still going over the events of the day.

* * *

**Sorry if this seems kind of rushed. I wanted to quickly introduce Karyssa and Jamie's reaction to her. I will develop her character a LOT more in the next chapter. Don't worry! **


	10. What a character

**Hi everyone! (waves) I'm back! Please don't run, I just wanna tell you the next chapter. Anyways, someone in a review asked, so I'm going to give a pronunciation guide. Mostly cause I'm just bored :P**

**Ulrich- Ool-rick  
Yumi- Yoo-mee  
Aelita- Eye-lee-tuh  
Jeremie- Jer-eh-mee  
Odd- ...odd (shrugs)  
Macas- Mac-us  
Jamie- Jay-mee  
Karyssa- Kuh-riss-uh (Krys- Kris)**

**I hope this helped at least someone. Anyways, on to the chapter... **

* * *

(Aelita P.O.V.) 

A loud buzzing noise jolts me out of my sleep, just like it does every morning. I reach over and fumble with my alarm clock. When I finally turn it off, I sit up and rub my eyes.

There, sitting on her bed and watching me, is Karyssa.

"Good morning Karyssa."

"Good morning. What's your name?" She asks, cocking her head to one side.

"My name is Aelita. Do you remember me?"

"No… but you look familiar. Have I met you before?"

"Yes, I met you yesterday."

"I don't remember meeting you yesterday."

"Maybe you will later."

"Okay." I look at her and realize that she's wearing orange pajamas, something she wasn't last night when we put her in bed.

"Did you change into pajamas?" I ask her.

"Uh… no. I always sleep in my PJs."

"Oh, okay."

_She doesn't remember anything before waking up._

"Do you want to go take a shower now?" I ask her. She visibly brightens at this.

"Okay." I grab a change of clothes and she follows my lead. I take her to the showers, which is surprisingly empty at this time of day. We both take our showers and head back to our room to get ready.

* * *

(Karyssa P.O.V.) 

"Hey Aelita, is your favorite color pink?" I ask. It seems kind of obvious, but you can't be too sure.

"Yah, how did you know?" She asks me.

"I don't know. I think it was because of your clothes." I say, pointing at her.

"What's your favorite color?"

"Orange!" I say loudly. I look over at my nightstand, but it's not there.

"Wait just a second." I see a box full of my stuff over near the end of my bed. I quickly rummage through it and spot what I was looking for. I take out a big orange alarm clock and put it on my nightstand. After looking for a minute, I plug it into the wall.

"See, look. It glows orange numbers." I say pointing at the brightly glowing numbers.

"Yah, it does." She says, only glancing at it for a second. She turns away and pulls out a small plastic container.

"What's that?" I ask, suddenly really interested.

"It's called a compact. Do you wear makeup?" She asks me, taking stuff out of the container and putting it on her eyelids.

"No… what's makeup? Is it where you make up stuff? Like words?"

"No. It's stuff you put on your face. Do you want to try some?" She asks, looking at me. I noticed that her eyes changed a little bit.

"Your eyelids are blue!" I say loudly.

"Yah. It makes me look prettier. Do you want to try some on?"

"Hmmm… no. I don't think so. But thanks anyway."

"Okay. If you just wait for a second, I'll be done in a minute." She says, turning back to the mirror.

"So, is it a second or a minute?" I ask, confused.

"What?"

"You said wait for a second, I'll be done in a minute. So will you be done in a minute, and you only want me to wait for a second?" Aelita starts laughing.

"Never mind. I'm done anyway."

"Okay. Let's go eat, I'm hungry. I can cook pancakes!" I say, jumping up off the bed.

"Don't worry, you don't need to cook. We have other people who cook for us."

"Woah, cool! That means I don't have to cook pancakes! Do they cook good food?" Aelita laughs again.

"Sometimes. I think today they actually are cooking pancakes. Let's go see."

"Okay." We walk out into the hall and Aelita locks the door. We walk upstairs and I see Odd walking down the hall with a boy I don't know.

"Hi Odd!" I say waving. He waves back, but he looks confused. After a moment, he reaches me and Aelita.

"Hi Krys. You remember me?" Odd says.

"Of course I remember you, I met you only yesterday!"

"Can you remember me?" The other boy asks.

"No… but you're cute. Are you Odd's brother?" I ask. He and Odd look a little bit alike, and I've seen siblings that look alike before. When I said that, his face turned all red like he's hot.

"No, I'm not his brother."

"Oh. What's your name?"

"My name is Ulrich."

"Hi Ulrich, my name is Karyssa, but you can call me Krys. I don't know why, but it sounds cool because Odd said it." I say smiling. Then I see Macas turn the corner, with another boy and a girl I don't know.

"Hi Macas!" He waves back at me.

"Hi Karyssa. Do you remember her?" He says, pointing to the girl next to him.

"Nope." I say, looking at the girl. I don't recognize her from anywhere.

"What about him?" He asks, pointing to the boy.

"Is he Odd's brother? He looks familiar, and he has yellow hair like Odd."

"No, he's not Odd's brother. Come on, you met him yesterday, can't you remember his name?"

"Mmmm… no. But he looks like a boy I remember from somewhere, and his name was Jeremie." The boy looks at me in surprise.

"My name is Jeremie." He says.

"Hi Jeremie! My name is Karyssa. Have you met Aelita?" I say, pointing to Aelita.

"Actually, I have." He walks over and puts his lips to Aelita's cheek.

"Ew, what did you do to her?" I ask him, disgusted. Jeremie's face goes red just like Ulrich's did a while earlier.

"It's called a kiss."

"Nuh uh." I say.

"What?" Jeremie looks confused.

"That's not a kiss. I saw someone kiss another person in a movie once. It looked like this." I go over to Odd and put my lips to his like I saw in the movie.

As soon as I do, Odd quickly backs away, blushing.

All of the sudden, I could remember that when someone turns red like that, it means they're blushing and that they're embarrassed.

"Odd, why are you blushing?" I ask him.

"Uh… uh… uh…" Odd stammers. Then I remember that when you kiss someone, it meant you liked them.

"Odd, do you not like me?"

"Well, no…" He says quietly.

"Um, Krys?" Ulrich says.

"Yah Ulrich?"

"Usually when someone kisses someone else, it means they're boyfriend and girlfriend." He says.

"Oh. Odd, do you want to be my boyfriend?" I ask him.

"Uh… sorry, but no."

"Oh, okay. Does that mean I can't kiss you anymore?"

"Yah, that's what it means." Jeremie says. I look at the other girl, and I remember meeting her yesterday.

"Hi Jamie! When did you get here?" I ask, and everyone looks surprised.

"You can remember Jamie?" Macas asks.

"Yah, I met her yesterday."

"Krys, you surprise us all." Odd says.

"Why did you call me Krys?" I ask. The name sounds familiar, but I can't remember where.

"I just called you Krys a few minutes ago." He says, looking as confused as I feel.

"You did?"

"Yah. Do you want me to call you that?"

"Sure, okay. It sounds cool because you said it." I say, and he blushes again. Suddenly my stomach rumbles.

"My tummy made a funny sound. I'm hungry, can we go eat now?" Macas smiles.

"Let's go eat." He says. After that, we all go outside and into another big building.

* * *

Odd P.O.V.) 

As soon as Krys' lips touched mine, I knew I liked her. I'm not sure how I knew, or how much I liked her. I just know I did. That split second she kissed me, I was in heaven. Nothing I had ever felt before came close to comparing to the feeling I got.

But I knew I had to pull away, or else it would lead to some awkward questions. So just as soon as I got the taste of her lips, I pulled back.

I knew I was blushing, but I couldn't help it.

"Odd, why are you blushing?" She asked me, innocence radiating off of her.

"Uh… uh… uh…" I stammer. I have no idea what to say, and even if I did I know I wouldn't be able to. My mouth wouldn't let me.

"Odd, do you not like me?" He face turns into one of concern.

"Well… no…" I say, not sure how to answer.

"Um, Krys?" Ulrich says. He explains something to Krys, but I can't concentrate. I find myself staring at her, struggling with my emotions. I stand there, struggling to control myself when Krys drops a bomb.

"Odd, do you want to be my boyfriend?" She asks me, smiling. I doubt she even knows what a boyfriend is.

"Uh… sorry, but no." I say carefully, hoping I won't upset her.

"Oh, okay. Does that mean I can't kiss you anymore?" I remain silent, because I don't trust myself to answer.

She has absolutely no idea what it means to have a boyfriend… maybe it's better that way.

"Yah, I met her yesterday." She says, referring to Jamie.

_Wait, didn't she just say she didn't recognize her?_

"Krys, you surprise us all." I say smiling.

"Why did you call me Krys?" She asks, looking suddenly confused. She totally threw me off balance with that.

_I knew she had short-term memory loss, but that bad?_

"I called you Krys just a few minutes ago."

"You did?"

"Yah. Do you want me to call you that?" I ask nervously.

_Maybe she doesn't like that name anymore…_

"Sure, okay. It sounds cool because you said it." She says and smiles again. I hear a sound that sounds like someone's stomach grumbling, but this time it isn't mine.

"My tummy made a funny sound. I'm hungry, can we go eat now?" Krys says, holding her stomach.

"Let's go eat." Macas says.

* * *

**I had a LOT of fun writing that. I know that Karyssa will be a fun character to deal with later. Well here you go, another chapter, please review!**


	11. Assault

**Hi, I'm back again! Is that a good thing? (shrugs) oh well. No blabbering for me this time. I'm going right to the story.**

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(Macas P.O.V.)

Mr. Delmas was kind enough to give Karyssa classes with people she knew. She has all the same classes as Aelita, two of which I have as well.

All of her teachers have been notified of her condition, and her classmates have been told she has a mental disability to remember things.

As we walk into science, the first person Karyssa has to walk up to is Sissi.

"Hello, my name is Krys. What's your name?" She asks her innocently. Sissi scowls at her, but then her whole countenance changes. She seems to take on a nicer look.

"My name is Sissi. Do you want to hang out with me for a while?"

"Umm… no thanks. I think class is about to start." Karyssa walks back to me, and I lead her to her seat. This is the one class that everyone except for Yumi shares.

Aelita and Karyssa sit next to each other, and they talk quietly the whole time.

"Karyssa?" Mrs. Hertz asks her. "Do you know what makes lead special?" Karyssa doesn't reply for a second, but soon her head shoots up.

"Isn't lead the most dense substance on the planet?" Mrs. Hertz looks pleasantly surprised.

"Why, yes it is. Good job. But do you know what the boiling point of water is?"

"Uh… 212 degrees Celsius." Mrs. Hertz shakes her head.

"Nope, but you're close. Sissi, can you help her out?" Sissi looks up suddenly.

"Uh… 32 degrees Fahrenheit." She says.

"Sissi, just because your brain is frozen doesn't mean the boiling point of water is." Odd says, and the whole class bursts out laughing.

"Settle down class. It's 212 degrees Fahrenheit, 100 degrees Celsius."

"Oh okay." Karyssa says.

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(Karyssa P.O.V.)

"What did I mess up on?" I ask Aelita quietly.

"You got the measurement wrong. Celsius and Fahrenheit are different." She whispers back.

"Oh, okay." I whisper, and look down at my desk. I don't even know how I knew that. It just popped into my head.

We sit quietly and listen for the rest of the period, but I can't remember anything the teacher said after that.

After class, I notice that Jeremie pulled his laptop computer out of his bag. It was beeping.

"Hey Jeremie, whatcha doin?" I ask, trying to see.

"Uh… nothing." He says.

"Is that a computer game? I'm really good at those, can I try?"

"No, sorry. It isn't a computer game, it's an alarm."

"Oh, okay." Macas grabs my hand and pulls me away a little bit.

"Hey Karyssa, Aelita is feeling sick. She's going to skip her next class, but Jamie will still be there with you, okay?"

"Oh, okay." I say smiling. Macas smiles back, and Jamie walks over. She nods her head to me and I follow her to class.

"Jamie, why don't you talk much?" I ask her after a minute.

"Because I don't like talking." She says quietly.

"Hmm, you should talk more. I like the sound of your voice."

"Thank you." We get to class, and we sit and listen for a while.

Right in the middle of the teachers lesson, Mr. Delmas bursts in.

"Oh, yes Mr. Delmas?"

"I need Miss Keloly and Miss Belpois to come with me now." He says roughly. He doesn't sound like he did yesterday at all. He sounds really mean now. Jamie looks at me, and I shrug. We both grab our books and stuff and stand up to leave. We follow Mr. Delmas out the door, and he leads us to edge of the school grounds.

"Mr. Delmas, where are we going?" I ask after we leave the school and go into a park. He doesn't answer me. After a little while, he turns to us and raises his hand.

"What are you doing?" Jamie asks. Suddenly, Mr. Delmas' hand glows a bright blue color.

"Hey, what the-" Jamie begins, but it cut off by a large beam of energy hitting her in the stomach. The beam hits us both, sending us flying backwards to a tree. The beam wraps itself around us and the tree, pinning us to it.

"Ow! That hurt!" I say, struggling against the brightly glowing energy.

"Don't move. If you do, the beam will cut you." Mr. Delmas says. Not heeding his warning, I struggle and squirm to try and free myself from it. Suddenly, pain lances up my arm. I look down to see my forearm has a large gash on it, and is bleeding down my arm.

"Ow! Ow…" I moan. The pain is intense, it's making my arm go numb.

"Krys, stop moving. It will only make it worse." Jamie whispers to me. Figuring I had no other choice, I stop trying to free myself.

"What do you want with us?" Jamie asks. Mr. Delmas still just stands there, not moving even in the slightest.

"What are you going to do to us?" I ask loudly, but he doesn't seem to hear me.

"Can you please just let us go? We're of no use to you…" Jamie pleads. In response, Mr. Delmas raises his hand again. This time it glows purple.

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(Macas P.O.V.)

We got to Lyoko just fine, no hitches or anything. There isn't any sign of what Xana is doing in the real world, and as we land in the forest region, I begin to suspect a trap.

"Jeremie, what's going on? What's the attack?" I ask.

"I can't find anything. There's nothing abnormal going on in the real world."

"I feel a trap coming on." I say, and Odd nods in agreement.

"I agree. We have to be careful." Ulrich says. Nevertheless, we dash off towards the tower. No monsters in sight, everything is peaceful on Lyoko. Suddenly, Aelita's overwing disintegrates from underneath her. She tumbles to the ground and everyone else pulls to a stop. On the right is a lone tarantula, poised and ready to take us all on.

"Macas…" Something says to me. I look at the others, but no one talked. It was more in my head than anything else. Ulrich pulls out his sword.

"One tarantula? Is Xana getting weaker?" Ulrich prepares to dash off, but I hold him.

"Do you want to lose your sister?" The voice asked me malevolently.

"Hold on Ulrich. Did you hear that?"

"No…" Ulrich says, and no one else heard it either.

"Something asked me if I wanted to lose Karyssa…" I say, mostly to myself.

"I have her captive. You will do as I say." I repeat the message to the others, who are baffled.

"What do you mean? How do you have her captive?" I ask to no one. A sudden portal opens up in front of us, a view screen. I get an image of Karyssa and Jamie in the real world. They are held captive to a tree by a blue stream of energy.

"Let them go!" I yell, drawing and igniting my sword. Mr. Delmas walks into view of the portal and holds up his hand. It glows purple.

"Do as I say or your sister will die." The voice whispers to me.

"I will never!" I yell. The electricity building in the principal's hand jumps to Karyssa's and Jamie's bodies, making them glow purple as well. They scream out in pain.

"No!" I yell, as does everyone else. Everyone draws their weapons, but they are useless here. The energy gets reabsorbed by Mr. Delmas hand, Karyssa and Jamie fall limp against the tree. Jamie stirs slightly, trying to free herself from the energy rope. Suddenly, she yelps in pain, and I see blood run down her arm. I notice a similar situation with Karyssa.

"Macas, what does Xana want you to do?" Ulrich asks me.

"He wants me to do as he says." I look over and see the tower, it's on the next path over. We're almost there, another twenty seconds and Aelita could be there to deactivate it.

"Don't do it. Don't worry, we'll figure a way out of this." Yumi says.

"No Macas, do as Xana says… for now. We have to save Krys and Jamie." Odd replies. I think for a second.

"Do as I say…" The voice says again, "Or your sister will die…"

"Aelita, run for the tower, now!" I yell. Aelita hops on the nearest vehicle, an overboard, and takes off. Suddenly, she stops. She begins to float in midair, and the overboard falls from underneath her, into the digital sea.

"Do as I say… or your sister will die and Aelita will be deleted." The voice says again. Aelita drops slightly, showing that she's above the digital void. If Xana were to let go of her, she would be deleted.

I don't move for several moments, considering my options.

After a minute, Mr. Delmas shocks Jamie and Karyssa again. At the same time, Aelita drops another ten feet, sending her below the level of the ground.

"Decide quickly…" The voice again speaks to me. Suddenly Aelita glows pink, but she doesn't move.

"What's…" I see in my peripheral vision Yumi falling to the ground. She herself was glowing pink as well, but she vanishes into wireframe.

"What happened? Yumi just lost all her life points!" Jeremie says from above. Aelita stops glowing pink, and I string together the pieces.

"Yumi tried telekinesis on Aelita. Xana stopped her, and drained her life points." I say melancholy.

"How?" Odd asks.

"I don't know."

"Very good Macas… but now you are running low on time. You have to decide quickly." The voice says. Suddenly, Aelita is lifted in the air about twenty feet, and Mr. Delmas' hand glows purple again.

"Decide now." He shocks Karyssa and Jamie again, and Aelita falls. I stand there stupidly, unsure of what to do.

_Do I join Xana and free my friends? Or do I deny him and kill off three of my best friends?_

I decide to join him, there's no other way.

"Macas! Help me!" Aelita screams as she falls. Suddenly, the burst of power that I felt when I fought Jeremie comes back. Totally stupefied, I act out of instinct. I thrust my hand out towards Aelita, and a shockwave of power is unleashed toward her. She stops falling instantly, but there is a tremendous force still pushing her down, which is Xana. I reach out with my mind and shatter the hold Xana has on her.

I spin around and thrust my fist out again. Another shockwave sends Aelita hurtling at an incredible pace towards the tower. She does a graceful flip and lands inside it.

A scream alerts me to the other threat. I flip back to the vision screen, seeing Karyssa and Jamie yelling in pain. Still not consciously thinking, I make a swiping motion with my hand. The electrocution is immediately cut off, Karyssa and Jamie fall unconscious to the tree.

I push my fist out towards Mr. Delmas and clench it. Mr. Delmas immediately falls to the ground and a black Xana ghost flies out of his ears, dissipating in the air.

The red aura surrounding the tower changes back to blue, showing that Aelita has deactivated it. The view screen also vanishes, meaning Xana has gone back to sleep for a while.

"Guys, do we need a time trip?" Jeremie asks.

"Jamie and Krys are hurt, do it." Ulrich says. A burst of white light shoots out of the tower. Just before it hits me though, my power dissipated again, turning me back to normal. Aelita must have been devirtualized first.

The white light hits me, sending me into blissful oblivion.

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**(if you were wondering, the line button wasn't working, so I got creative : P)**

**Anyways, I had lotsa fun writing this chapter too. Review please and I'll update sooner! **


	12. Admittance

**Sorry for the long wait for the update. Being grounded sucks.**

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(Ulrich P.O.V.)

"Isn't lead the most dense substance on the planet?" Karyssa says. The time trip dropped us off during science class, when Mrs. Hertz was asking Krys the questions.

"Why, yes it is. Good job. But do you know what the boiling point of water is?" Krys thinks for a second, but then she looks as though she remembers.

"100 degrees Celsius?" She replies. I do a double take.

_Wait, did she say Celsius this time?_

"Correct. Nice job Karyssa." Karyssa beams with delight, but Odd, Jeremie, Aelita, Macas and I are all staring at her and then each other.

_She changed her answer… that means somehow she remembered through the return trip…_

I sit jittery through the whole science period for two reasons. One: I've already heard it all before. Two: I want to talk to Jeremie, see what he thinks about this.

When Science finally lets out, we all hurry outside. Krys and Jamie are outside with us, so we can't talk about it here. In fact, I don't have a spare moment where I can talk to Jeremie until school gets out.

After school does get out, I convince Odd to take Jamie and Krys somewhere else so the rest of us can talk. Macas, Yumi, Jeremie, Aelita and I all sit down on or near the bench.

"So Jeremie, any thoughts?" I ask, and he looks at me strangely.

"About?"

"You know what I mean. Krys can obviously remember the return to the past." I say, and Yumi looks at me strangely.

"She can?"

"During science, she answered a question differently than before the attack. She missed it the first time and got it right the second."

"That doesn't necessarily mean she can remember it." Yumi replies.

"It's usually completely random. She'll remember something then forget it the next second. For all I know, she suddenly remembered it was Celsius instead of Fahrenheit after we came back." Macas says knowingly.

"I don't know." Jeremie says.

"Any theories?"

"Nope. I honestly don't know how the return to the past works. All I know is that it does, and only we can remember it. That's why I was surprised when Macas suddenly remembered." He says thoughtfully. My cell phone rings and I pull it out.

"Hey."

"Hey Ulrich, it's Odd."

"Hey Odd."

"Karyssa can remember the return to the past sequence."

"Yah, we were just talking about that."

"Well yah, but I know she does."

"How?"

"She was talking about how Mr. Delmas cut her arm."

"She was?"

"Yah. But when I asked her more about it, she couldn't remember it anymore."

"Okay, that's interesting… I'll tell the others."

"Okay, see yah."

"See yah." I put my phone away and face the others.

"Krys knows. She can remember. She was telling Odd about how Mr. Delmas cut her on the arm."

"Uh oh… I guess we had better go explain to her…" Jeremie says sighing. "I really didn't want to get them involved in this."

"We don't have to. She can't remember anymore. When Odd asked her about it, she couldn't remember it anymore."

"That's a relief."

"Jeremie… eventually, they will find out…" Macas says.

"No, I won't let them. I will not let Xana hurt my sister!" Jeremie says loudly.

"We won't. But Jamie is too smart. Sooner or later she'll figure out we're gone and find out where we are. Then we'll have to explain it to her." Jeremie lays back against the seat.

"I know. I just don't want her to get hurt."

"And she won't. I won't let her, or anyone else." Macas says forcefully

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(Odd P.O.V.)

We were all sitting in Jeremie's room, lying comfortably on his bed and such. I ended up sitting next to Krys again.

"Hey Krys, are you getting tired?" I ask her after she yawns.

"Yah, but I'm okay." She says, lying her head on my shoulder.

"Do you want to go to bed now?"

"Will you carry me there if I fall asleep?"

"Hmm, yah most likely."

"Then no, I don't want to go to bed now." I mentally sigh, knowing she doesn't know any better.

She starts shivering a little bit, even though it's not cold at all.

"Are you cold?"

"Just a bit."

"Here…" I wrap my arm around her and bring her closer to me. She winds her hand across my chest and holds on tight. Soon, she's asleep, her head gently lying on my shoulder.

Feeling suddenly self conscious, I look around the room. Everyone is looking at me and smiling, even Macas.

"Uh… this uh… isn't what it looks like." I say quickly.

"Sure it isn't." Ulrich says, a smug smile on his face.

"Well uh, she just kind of fell asleep."

"Don't worry about it Odd." Macas says. "Karyssa just doesn't really know any better."

"You mean… you don't mind?"

"Why would I mind?"

"She's your sister."

"Yah, and I love her enough to let her do as she pleases. Well, whenever appropriate." The room goes silent for a minute.

"You like her, don't you Odd?" Yumi asks, her eyes piercing right into my soul. I feel a blush creep up on my cheeks, unavoidable. I slowly nod my head.

"Is that okay?" I ask slowly.

"Who's going to stop you?" Macas asks. "I can't stop your feelings."

"As far as I know, neither can I." Ulrich says.

"I just want to ask one thing Odd. I just want you to think about it, don't answer me." Macas says, the smile fading from his face.

"What's that?"

"Do you like her out of pity or compassion?" I sit and think about it, just like he told me to. I search me feelings deeply, trying to understand the source.

_Pity means I feel sorry for her. Compassion is wanting to help her…_

We all sit quietly for a moment, and I look at Krys. She's a tiny little thing, so cute and adorable. I love the way her long brown hair rests in front of her face. I find myself holding on to her tighter, hugging her close to me.

"I think it's time for her to go to bed now." I say, motioning towards Krys.

"Good thinking." Macas says, standing up. He motions to pick her up, but I shake my head.

"I told her I would carry her to her room if she fell asleep." I say. I move my arms so one is in position right behind her shoulders, and one underneath her knees. She's holding tightly onto my neck. With some help from Macas, I manage to move into a standing position in front of Jeremie's bed.

She's surprisingly light, even for her size. I easily carry her out of the room and downstairs.

I set her on her bed, but she won't let go of me. Her arms are secured around my neck tightly. So I sit down on her bed alongside her.

After a couple minutes, Aelita walks in to see my predicament. She immediately claps her hands over her mouth to stop the giggling.

"Hey, it's not funny. I seriously can't get her to let go of me." She shakes her head and walks over to me. After about thirty seconds of prying, we finally managed to get her fingers unclasped from each other without waking her up.

Unfortunately, as soon as I got off the bed, she woke up.

"Odd, don't leave me!" She says loudly, and she clamps her arms around my waist.

"Hey hey, don't worry. I won't leave you. I promise." I say, taking her hands off my waist again. I gently take her by the shoulders and push her back into a lying position.

"You promise you won't leave?"

"I promise." As soon as I said that, she closed her eyes and went straight back to sleep.

"Okay… Goodnight Krys. I'll see you in the morning Aelita." I head for the door.

"Odd? You're leaving?" Aelita asks, looking at me.

"Yah. What, did you expect me to stay here?"

"Well, yah. You did promise."

"I can't do that. It's against school rules for a boy to stay in a girl's dorm overnight."

"Since when have you cared about school rules?" Aelita says, tilting her head.

"I… I can't stay here. It just wouldn't be right."

"Odd, you're staying."

"Aelita, I can't."

"If you leave, she will never forgive you."

"She won't remember in the morning."

"Odd, you're staying." She says, placing her hands on her hips.

"You're not going to let me go, are you?" I ask, admitting defeat.

"Nope." Aelita walks over to the closet. "Here's a pillow," She tosses one at me and before I can react it hits me in the face, "and a blanket." She tosses one of those at me too, it also hitting me in the face. I sigh.

"Okay, I guess you win."

"But you aren't sleeping in her bed."

"Well duh." I say, putting the pillow on the floor next to her closet. That way, if Jim opens the door, he won't be able to see me unless he steps inside and looks around.

"Um… Odd?" Aelita says, she's turning red.

"Yah?"

"I uh, need to change."

"Oh, right." I plop down on the floor and grab the pillow. I smother my face with it and give her a thumbs up. After a couple minutes, I hear her say okay, and I remove the pillow from my face.

"Odd, I don't want any funny business during the night, okay?"

"Don't worry Aelita. I know where the boundaries are."

"Good." I pull out my cell phone and hit speed dial 1, Ulrich's phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Ulrich, I'm sleeping in Aelita's dorm tonight, okay?"

"Why?"

"Long story."

"Okay, but I deserve an explanation in the morning."

"Deal."

"And Odd, I don't want any funny business-"

"Don't worry Ulrich," I interrupt. "First, Macas would probably kill me. Then Aelita. Then Jeremie. Then you, and Yumi… and probably even Jamie for good measure."

"Good. See you tomorrow."

"See yah." I click off my phone and stow it in my pants pocket. Aelita is already on her bed, looking tired.

"I'm going to sleep now Odd…" She says yawning.

"What? I was hoping we could stay up all night… you know. Telling scary stories, making jokes and stuff." I say with a big grin.

"Not funny. Goodnight Odd." She lays down on her bed, and pulls up the covers. As a side thought, I stand up and walk over to Krys' bed. I carefully cover her with a blanket, and give her a quick kiss on top of the head.

"Goodnight Krys. Goodnight Aelita." I walk back over to my little makeshift bed and lie down.

"Goodnight Odd." Aelita says one last time before I hear her breathing slow down. She's gone to sleep already. I can feel sleep pulling at my eyelids too. I lay down and pull the blankets up. Before long, I find myself drifting off as well.

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**Mmm... can't think of anything to say here. Please review, tell me what you think.**

**If you don't like lemons, then don't worry. There will be no lemons in any story of mine. I wouldn't want to offend any readers with that kind of stuff. Sorry to those who like that kind of stuff, I don't write like that anyway.**


	13. Maturity

**Mmm... kinda short... oh well. Live with it xD**

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(Odd P.O.V.)

_Bring bring!_

Hearing my alarm go off, I pull my right arm out from under my head and swing it in a full arc across my body to where my alarm is.

When I feel something sharp jab into the back of my hand, I immediately sit up.

Blinking my eyes to try and clear them, I look around.

Seeing all the orange and pink, I remember that last night, I slept in Aelita's room because I promised Krys.

The sharp thing that hit my hand was a corner of Aelita's nightstand, which I had hit really hard.

Aelita rose out of bed and looked at me, giggling as I nursed my hurting hand.

"Hey, not funny. That really hurt."

"What did you do, pick a fight with a table and loose?"

"You could say that."

"Good morning everybody." Krys says, waking up.

"Hey Krys. Do you know who we are?" I ask.

"Well of course I remember you Odd. What are you doing in my room?"

"Don't you remember? I promised you I would stay here last night."

"Oh yah." She turns to Aelita. "Good morning, who are you?"

"Don't you remember me?"

"It your name Atilea?"

"No. You can't remember my name?"

"Not really. You look familiar, but I can't remember your name. Have I met you before?"

"Yes, from yesterday and the day before." I say. Krys looks at me, then looks like she understands. She look back towards Aelita and looks shocked. She jumps up and hugs her.

"Aelita! When did you get here? What happened to Atilea?"

"She had to leave." Aelita says shortly, hugging her back. I look at the clock and see it's 5:30. After a few moments, it finally sinks in.

"Aelita! Why did you wake me up at 5:30?" I ask loudly.

"I kind of figured you needed to get back before someone catches you here. So I set it early."

"Oh, phew. I thought you were crazy or something like that. I've heard of girls who wake up at 5:00 just so they have time to get ready for school at 8:00."

"Yah well, I'm not that crazy." She says with a small smile.

"Let's go then." I say, standing up. Something feels strange and I look down to realize I don't have a shirt on.

"Oops. I don't remember taking my shirt off." I mumble to myself, reaching down to where it is and grabbing it. It's a tangled mess, with the vest and the sleeves all tangled up, and I'm far too lazy to try and untangle it now. So, I sling it over my shoulder and walk out of the room.

I say goodbye to the girls and walk back up to my room. When I enter, Ulrich has obviously just woken up. He's sitting up in his bed, rubbing his eyes and his hair is going everywhere.

"Oh, hey Odd… what the hell?" He asks, looking at me.

"What?"

"Man, you better not have done anything last night or else somebody's going to kick your ass." Ulrich says, and I just get more and more confused.

"Say what?"

"Why don't you have your shirt on?"

"Oh, that. I took it off last night because I was too hot."

"And you didn't do anything else?"

"What else could I possibly… no way!" I say loudly, finally realizing what he's talking about.

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(Karyssa P.O.V.)

I wake up and rub my eyes. I look around my room to see almost everything is where it's supposed to be. Except there's a girl sitting on a bed on the other side of the room, and Odd is lying against a wall in the corner.

"Good morning everybody." I say, smiling at them.

"Hey Krys. Do you know who we are?" Odd asks me. That's a stupid question, why wouldn't I remember Odd?

"Well of course I remember you Odd. What are you doing in my room?"

"Don't you remember? I promised you I would stay here last night." He says kindly, and I suddenly I remember him promising not to leave me last night.

"Oh yah." I say. I look at the other girl sitting on her bed. "Good morning, who are you?"

"Don't you remember me?" She asks me. A name springs to mind, so I ask her.

"It your name Atilea?"

"No. You can't remember my name?" I guess that wasn't her name. Oh well.

"Not really. You look familiar, but I can't remember your name. Have I met you before?" I ask, she does look familiar.

"Yes, from yesterday and the day before." Odd says, and I look at him. I don't remember meeting that girl. I look back to where the girl was sitting, but she's not there anymore. Instead, Aelita is sitting exactly where she was, looking really tired. I jump up and go hug her.

"Aelita! When did you get here? What happened to Atilea?" I ask her.

"She had to leave."

"Oh, okay." I say, but I don't think she heard me because Odd says something. Then I notice that Odd isn't wearing a shirt.

_Wow… Odd is really… hott… _

I feel a sensation inside my chest, something I don't recognize. But I feel as that as long as I'm with Odd, I'll be okay.

"Oops, I don't remember taking my shirt off." He says. I find myself thinking:

_No… please don't put it back on… _

After a couple seconds, Odd just slings his shirt over his shoulder, unable to untangle it.

_Wait… why did I not want him to put his shirt back on? He's only my friend, not a boyfriend or anything… I shouldn't be thinking about a friend that way…_

Odd walks out of the room and I follow him. Aelita and I walk to the showers in companionable silence.

"Aelita, how long have I known Odd?" I ask her after I realize I can't remember. It seems as though I've known him forever, he seems so familiar…

"Just a couple of days. Why?"

"I don't know. Would it be wrong for him to ask me out so soon?" I look at Aelita to see she's staring at me.

"Uh, Krys? You know that if he asks you out, that means you're his girlfriend, right?"

"Uh… yah…" I say confused. That was kind of a duh question.

"You know that if he's your boyfriend, that means he likes you, and you like him…?"

"Uh yah Aelita. I've well versed with this whole 'relationship' thing. You're treating me like I'm only 8 years old…"

"Well, sometimes you act like it."

"Like when?"

"Well… this morning. You said good morning to me even though you couldn't recognize me."

"I guess I did, didn't I? I didn't mean to. It just felt like the right thing to do."

"Krys, you're starting to kind of creep me out." She says as we enter the shower room.

"How's that?"

"You're acting… more mature…."

"So I was immature before?"

"Well, yah. Because you couldn't remember anything." We wait in the line outside the showers.

"I couldn't remember anything…?"

"How much can you remember right now?"

"Uh, a lot. Aelita, you're asking some really weird questions."

"Okay, who is in the gang?"

"Ulrich, Jeremie, Odd, Jamie, Yumi, you and me. Oh yah, and my brother." Aelita goes bug eyed at me.

"You can remember all of them?"

"Yah… why wouldn't I?"

"Um… I'll talk to you after my shower." She says and we both go in to take our showers. Afterwards, I go back to find Aelita already done changing and out of our room. She left a note for me on the nightstand. It says she just changed really quick and went up to Jeremie's room, and she wants me to do the same.

Quickly throwing on a dark orange tank top and blue jeans, I realize I don't have any makeup. Hoping Aelita won't mind, I borrow some of hers and head up to Jeremie's room.

Forgetting to knock, I walk in to see Macas, Jeremie and Aelita having a conversation, but they abruptly stop when I walk in.

"Hi, what's up?" I ask. Macas just smiles.

"Hey Karyssa. Did you sleep well?"

"Yah, pretty good."

"That's good." I walk over and sit on Jeremie's bed, just as Odd and another boy walk in.

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**Mmm... nothing too special about this chapter... just basically wrapping up what happened last night. Next chapter will probably give a little more insight about Krys...**

**Anyways, random thought here. Anyone who can figure out why Krys called her Atilea will get the next chapter dedicated to them, just cause!**


	14. Deciding Factor

**-sigh- school has started for me again. Under normal circumstances, I would say this means I will update less, but unfortunately I barely update now. So most likely, it will be about the same distance between updates... I hope. Anyways, here's a new chapter with some nice fluff in it.**

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(Ulrich P.O.V.)

Odd and I walk in after getting Jeremie's test message to find everyone except Jamie is in there. I presume she is changing somewhere else because Macas and Jeremie are here. Krys is sitting on Jeremie's bed, looking happy and somewhat confused.

"Hi." Krys says, waving at us from the bed.

"Hi Krys, can you remember us?" I ask with a smile.

"Hmm… I don't recognize you. Are you Odd's brother? You look kind of like him."

"No, I'm not his brother. You seriously can't remember me?"

"Nope." She says. "But I remember Odd." She stands up and gives Odd a hug.

"Hey Krys. I guess that means you remember me?"

"Yup." At that moment, Jamie walked in. When she does, I notice Aelita walk up to Odd and whisper something in his ear.

"Hello, what's your name?" Krys asks Jamie. Jamie just looks at her, looking polite, but still not wanting to talk. I notice Odd slip his arm around Krys' waist, and she looks at him strangely.

She looks back at Jamie and jumps in surprise.

"Oh hi Jamie, good morning!" She says smiling. Jamie looks at her strangely, but still smiles. Jamie silently walks over to her bed and sits down. Macas sits down next to her, looking at Odd.

"Does anyone know what just happened?" Jeremie asks, resting his arms on the back of his computer chair. He's sitting in it backwards as well.

"Krys, did you all of the sudden remember Jamie?" Odd asks her.

"No, she just appeared where that other girl was." She replies, tilting her head to one side in confusion. "Why do you ask?"

"Because it was Jamie the whole time. She didn't just appear, you suddenly remembered her. Do you know why?" Krys looks really confused now.

"No. Not really."

"Karyssa, can you remember anything from last night?" Macas asks her.

"Uh… I fell asleep on Odd's shoulder… he stayed in my dorm last night because I didn't want him to go…"

"Wait, he did what?" Macas asks, looking at Odd. Odd looks sheepish and he starts blushing.

"I asked him too. He was going to leave last night, and I didn't want him to leave. So I asked him to stay and he did." Krys states fairly.

"Hey, she said it. That means it's all her fault." Odd says pointing at her with a smile.

"So Karyssa, can you remember all of us?" Macas asks.

"Uh… yah."

"Name us all, just to be sure." Ulrich says, nodding at Odd. Odd lets go of her waist and backs away. Krys goes around the room, naming everyone. But when she comes to Ulrich, she stops.

"Oh, hi. Who are you?" She asks him. Ulrich just looks at her meaningfully. He nods back to Odd, who puts his arm back around her waist. Krys looks at him then back to Ulrich.

"Okay, that was creepy." She says. "Suddenly I can remember Ulrich. And I can remember not remembering him… if that makes any sense."

"Makes sense to me. I just don't know why." Jeremie says thoughtfully.

"Me too." Macas says.

"Not me." Odd says, bringing a laugh out of everyone. He looks at Karyssa and steps away. Immediately, Krys latches onto him.

"No Odd, stay with me." She says, blushing.

"Okay…"

"When you're near me, I can remember things…." She says, hugging him tightly.

"So… Odd is the deciding factor on whether you can remember or not?" I ask.

"I think so."

"Karyssa… do you remember how you got to be this way? Why you can't remember things very well?" Macas says, and Krys thinks. After a moment, she nods her head, and looks like she's about to cry. Odd notices this and holds her close.

"Shh… don't cry Krys… it'll be okay…" He says, and she buries her head into his chest.

"Please Odd… don't leave me… I don't want to go back to the way I was…"

"Don't worry. You won't have to. I won't leave you Krys."

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(Macas P.O.V.)

I see Odd and Karyssa hugging, and suddenly I feel an impulse to hit Odd, to kick him, to do anything to get him away from my sister.

I've felt this feeling a lot since she's come here, and I know that it's just the feeling of brotherly protection. I feel the need to protect my sister.

I look at the clock on the wall and see it's nearly 7:00.

"Come on, break it up you two… it's time for breakfast." I say, standing up. Odd separates from Karyssa, blushing, but he still keeps his arm around her waist. We all head out the door and to breakfast, all… eight of us. Wow, our group has swelled, even since I've been here.

As we walk, I noticed I ended up walking right next to Jamie again. She's looking at me, so I look back and smile.

"Have you talked to anyone besides me or Jeremie yet?" I ask her. She shakes her head, but then quickly nods.

"Was that a yes or a no?" I ask with a laugh.

"I talked to Aelita while I was waiting in line." She says quietly, looking straight ahead. We walk in silence for a few minutes before I speak again.

"You don't like talking much, do you?" She shakes her head.

"Why not?" She keeps looking straight ahead, and after a minute she shrugs her shoulders.

"I talk when I need to."

"Well you should talk more often. I like to hear your voice." I say, blushing when I realized what I just said.

"Maybe you should talk less often." She comments quietly, not looking at me.

"Does that mean you don't like my voice?" I ask with a smirk.

"No! I mean uh… well I…" Jamie stutters.

"Just kidding, just kidding…" Jamie playfully punches me on the arm.

"Don't kid like that." Just for fun, I grasp my arm and howl in pain.

"Ow! Jamie hit me really really hard! Oh no, I think I'm going to die!" I fall to the floor, moaning. Odd walks up, kicks me in the shin, and walks off.

"Hey! What was that for?" I yell, but he just keeps walking. "Excuse me Jamie, I have to go beat the crap out of Odd now." I say, standing up and brushing myself off.

"Go right ahead." She says, and I take off after him. He notices I'm coming after him and he runs away, leaving Karyssa behind.

"Odd!' Krys yells. She latches onto me just as I run past her, preventing me from chasing Odd any more.

"Macas, Odd left me!"

"Wow, you sound really desperate. Try to tone it down a little Sis." I say, but realize that's kind of harsh.

"Hey, don't worry. I'll go get him for you." I say and smile. After she nods and lets go I tear down the hall after Odd. Going full sprint, I manage to catch up to him, but I don't think he was going full speed.

He doesn't realize I'm there until I'm right on top of him. He increases his speed quickly, but I caught him too fast. I quickly grab his arms and put him in a full nelson.

"Hey there Odd, I've got someone who is disappointed you left her." I say, and he squirms.

"What, you're acting like you don't love my sister." I say smiling even though he can't see me. He stops squirming.

"That was a low blow Macas." He mumbles.

"Whatever. Let's go Odd." Still holding him tightly in a full nelson, I lead him back to where the others are.

"Hey Odd, where did you go?" Krys asks innocently.

"Just… away." He says.

"Did you have fun?"

"You bet I did." He says, realizing she can't remember again. He immediately walks up to her and puts his arm around her waist, and they walk off together.

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**Mmmmm... nothing to say here. Review please!**


	15. Virtualization

**It hasn't been too long since my last update, has it? I don't think so... Anyways, I like this chapter. You'll see why...**

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(Jamie P.O.V.)

I'm sitting through my last class of the day: Math. I hate math, it's the worst subject in the world.

My teacher is droning on and on about how important something is… factoring, I think.

"See, then you take the a-squared and multiply it by the b to the fourth, you get a-b to the sixth…" He says, and I just stare off into space. I look around and see that most of my classmates are doing the exact same thing.

I hear a beeping noise coming from Jeremie's backpack, and poke him in the side. He looks at it and goes extremely pale. He quickly dives in and I see him pull out his laptop out, just enough to open it slightly. He quickly presses a couple keys and it stops beeping.

"Hey Jeremie, what's up?" I ask quietly.

"Uh… nothing." He whispers back. The bell rings, and he stands up quickly. He packs up his stuff quickly and leaves, not even waiting for me. I pack up my stuff and follow him, but he's gone out of sight.

I walk along the hallway, trying to remember how to navigate the confusing corridors when I see Krys and Odd walk up.

"Odd, what's wrong with Jeremie?" I ask. He just shrugs and reaches into his pocket. He pulls out his phone. He presses a couple buttons and puts it away.

"I don't know. But I have to go, There's something I have to do. Can you take care of Krys for me?"

"Um, of course. Where are you going?" He doesn't respond as he lets go of Krys and begins to walk away.

"I have to go, we'll talk later, okay?" He says before sprinting away.

"Jamie, what's Xana?" Krys asks as we walk back to her room.

Xana… that sounds familiar… 

"I don't know. Where did you hear that?"

"It was a message on Odd's phone. It said… something about Xana, I can't remember."

She's already beginning to lose her memory because Odd isn't here… 

"Well if you can remember, tell me." I say as we enter her room. We sit and talk for about twenty minutes, and I notice her memory begin to rapidly slip again. She wasn't around Odd, so she couldn't remember things very well. She actually forgot my name once. She still remembered who I was, just not my name.

"Jamie, do you like Macas?" She asks suddenly.

"What makes you say that?"

"I don't know. You just seem to hang out with him a lot."

"So?"

"So do you like him? As in more than a friend?" I suddenly realize that my face is burning up.

"Well uh… can you keep a secret?" I ask quietly, nervously looking around the empty room.

"Depends on the secret." She says. "Some secrets shouldn't be kept."

"Yah well, this one should."

"Okay then, tell me."

"I came here because of your brother."

"Why?"

"After we learned Jeremie went missing. Me and my parents came here. That's when I first met him."

"Okay."

"And well, when I went back to my school… I kind of mentioned him to Cassie, my friend." I needed to choose my next words carefully.

"What did you say?"

"I said I thought… he was kind of cute."

"Oh, so you do like him!"

"NO! I just said he was kind of cute. I could say that for a lot of guys…" Krys just smiles knowingly at me.

"Well anyway, Cassie basically had the same reaction you did, she immediately thought I liked him. So we got into a big fight. Eventually, the principal was called in. I was still so angry at Cassie that I ended up yelling and cussing at the principal too. I got expelled and sent here."

"Oh." I breathed a mental sigh of relief as she said that.

_If only she knew how much I actually did like Macas… that I actually cussed at the principal just so I could come here to see him…._

"So this is a secret that needs to be kept, okay?"

"Don't worry, your secret it safe with me."

"Thanks Krys." All of the sudden, I get a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Something is wrong… I just know it." I say. The feeling gets worse. It's not like a sick feeling, but a feeling of despair.

"You feel it too?" She asks me.

"Yah. I've got to go… I need to see if I can find out what it is…" I say. "Can you stay here for me?"

"Yah, sure. I still don't know my way around very well." With that, I walk out the door and head for the courtyard. As soon as I round the corner, I run smack dab into Odd. We both fall on our butts to the ground.

"Jamie! Thank God it's you! We have to go, now!" He stands up, grabs my hand and pulls me up. He then proceeds to pull me along at a really fast pace. He drags me into the woods and into a clearing. There's an uncovered manhole there. He walks up and slips down inside.

"Odd, what are you doing?" I ask frantically.

"Just follow me." He says, going lower on the old rusty ladder. Completely disgusted with what I'm about to do, I slide down inside the manhole myself.

At the bottom, Odd is waiting for me. There's two skateboards there, and Odd is holding one. He hands the other to me and I take it. It has the name Ulrich Stern in sharpie on the bottom.

"Can you skateboard?" He asks.

"Only so-so." I reply.

"Good enough, let's go." He then runs and jumps onto the skateboard, flying down the tunnel. Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, I follow him.

After my perilous ride through the sewers, which most likely will leave me traumatized for life, we end up on a bridge. I'm exhausted, but Odd doesn't slow down a bit. He races across the bridge and into an old abandoned factory.

I follow him into the factory, where there's a set of rope swings, one of which Odd is using to swing down on. I look down but quickly pull myself back.

"Jamie! Let's go, this is an emergency!" He yells to me from the bottom. Closing my eyes again, I grab the rope and jump off the edge.

I don't know how I made it to the bottom, but I did. Odd pulls me into an old elevator, which closes smoothly behind us. Odd hits a button, and the elevator goes down.

"Care to explain now Odd?" I ask, gasping for breath.

"Uh… I think I'll leave that up to your brother… later." He says as the doors open again. They open up to a large golden room with three similarly colored tubes inside of it. Odd quickly gestures for me to get in one.

"This had better not be a prank Odd." I say as I step inside.

"Jeremie, I brought Jamie." Odd says.

"YOU BROUGHT JAMIE?" Jeremie's voice booms over a loudspeaker.

"She was the first one I saw, just virtualize her already." Odd says defensively.

"Okay whatever. Hold on Sis, and just enjoy the ride." Jeremie's voice says. The doors on the tube slide closed, blocking my only escape. But somehow, I don't feel nervous or afraid.

I know Jeremie wouldn't do anything bad to me… and somehow I know this has something to do with Macas as well.

"Transfer Jamie…" Jeremie's voice says. A bright light turns on in the tube, so I close my eyes to block it out.

"Scanner Jamie…" I can now feel myself floating, my feet have left the floor. A slight wind has picked up somehow, ruffling my clothes and my hair.

"Virtualization!" Jeremie's voice says, but I can barely hear it. The wind is gusting now, but suddenly, I can't feel it anymore.

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**Yup, that's why I like this chapter. I'm going to leave you now, please review. I'll have the next chapter up soon...**


	16. Enter the Archer

**Hey all, sorry everyone. I meant to update this forever ago. I didn't like the way Jamie's look was, and I wanted to fix it, but I never got around to it.**

**AngElle is my official helper for this series, and she did bug me over and over and over again to update, but I didn't listen. Don't blame her. :P**

**She also reminded me that I promised to dedicate a chapter a while back, it was whoever could guess why Karyssa called Aelita Atilea. Only one person managed to get it.**

**This chapter, and last chapter are now both officially dedicated to Purpletail because she figured out that Atilea is Aelita spelled backwards. **

**And believe it or not, that does have some significance. I'll explain at the end so I don't bore you all to death.**

**Here we go with Stars in the Night chapter 16.**

* * *

(Ulrich P.O.V.)

I landed softly in the desert region to total silence. Not a sound could be heard.

"Jeremie, where are Macas and Aelita?" I ask as Yumi drops down next to me.

"I don't know, they disappeared!" Jeremie says frantically. I look around and get a sinking feeling in my stomach.

"Jeremie, I found them. They're in a guardian." I say with a sigh. Sure enough, a ball of glowing orange energy is floating in the middle of the plateau we're on.

"Wait, they're both in one guardian?" He asks.

"Yah. Is that a problem?" Yumi asks.

"Well, if they're both in one guardian, I can't get them out!"

"Why not?" Yumi asks again.

"I would explain it to you, but you wouldn't understand anyway. Basically if I free one, the guardian self destructs, destroying the other. So we would have to pick Aelita or Macas."

"So pick Aelita, we need her to deactivate the tower."

"No, if I do, Macas will be deleted."

"Oh."

"Okay guys, just hold tight. I'm going to figure out a way out of this."

"But what's the attack?" I ask suddenly.

"I don't know…" He mumbles, and I can hear the sound of keys typing from here.

Line

About half an hour later, nothing has happened. Yumi and I have been sitting here, talking about whatever.

"Any progress Jeremie?" I ask.

"Um… sort of." He says.

"Come on, explain." Yumi prods.

"I've come up with a program that can potentially drain the life out of the guardian, making it release them."  
" Okay… so what's the problem?"

"Well, in lay man's terms, it has to be used by a character."

"Okay, so upload me with it." I offer.

"I can't. It can't be put onto a character already made. I would have to make a brand new character."

"So do it."

"Who would we have to use it?" I softly slap my forehead and rub my temples in thought.

"No! Odd, we can't use them!" I hear Jeremie yell.

"What's up?"

"Odd went to go get one of the girls." Jeremie says with a sigh.

"Jeremie… they're going to find out about Lyoko eventually. It's inevitable." Yumi says, and Jeremie sighs again.

"I know. I just… I've always been protective of Jamie. Maybe too protective. I think Macas feels the same way."

"Don't worry about it Jeremie. I'm sure if I had a sister, I would feel the same way." I say. We sit in thoughtful silence for a couple minutes.

"YOU BROUGHT JAMIE!" Jeremie suddenly yells. I wince at the sudden loud noise. After a small while, A wireframe appears in the air above us. It's loading really slowly, most likely because it's a new profile.

After a moment, our new green clad warrior drops out of the sky.

Line

She falls and twists around, trying to land on her feet. She manages to land on her feet, but she stumbles and falls backward. I use supersprint to launch myself underneath her, catching her before she hits the ground. She looks at me and her eyes go wide.

"Hey Jamie. Welcome to Lyoko." I say, smiling as I set her back on her feet. She stares at me and Yumi disbelievingly for a moment. And I use the time to look over her Lyoko form.

Her whole outfit is green, which I approve of. When someone is virtualized into Lyoko, the supercomputer analyzes their subconscious, and gives them the form that their subconscious secretly wishes for.

It looks like Jamie secretly wishes to be an archer.

She's wearing a dark green choker necklace low on her throat. A green spaghetti-strap shirt adorns her top, but instead of the straps going around her shoulders, they fit snugly into the choker. Her shirt doesn't end, it merely merges into a short green skirt. A low belt hangs loosely at her hips, an emerald jewel is embedded in the middle, sparkling slightly in the bright desert sun. Skintight light-green cloth is showing off her legs and arms perfectly, and darker gloves cover her hands. She's wearing green boots, similar to the ones Yumi wears in the real world.

A dark green strap laces itself across her chest, holding a quiver full of arrows in place.

The last thing… I'm not sure what it is. It looks almost like a metal armwarmer on her left arm, covering from her elbow to her palm.

"Yumi… Ulrich… is that you?" She asks quietly, almost disbelievingly.

"Yes, it's us. We're in a virtual world called Lyoko. It's basically…"

"A video game?" She interrupts me.

"Uh… yeah. And we need your help now to beat it." I say, thinking quickly.

"Okay… I guess. What do we have to do?" She asks, sounding almost lost.

"Your profile should have the ability to destroy that." I say, pointing at the guardian. She looks and her eyes go wide again.

"My… profile…?" She asks, not comprehending very fast.

"Yah, everyone has their own special character that only they can use. Look at yourself." Yumi says with a small smile. Jamie looks down at herself, and stares at herself for at least a full minute. She reaches behind her and pulls out an arrow, looking at it.

"I'm no archer…"

"And I'm no samurai."

"And I'm no geisha."

"When you're virtualized for the first time, you're also uploaded with a basic knowledge of how to use your weapon. You should be fairly adept at it. Give it a shot."

"I don't have a bow." She says, and me and Yumi just look at each other.

"Uh…"

"Hey Jeremie? Jamie has no bow." I say.

"Yes she does. It says so on her profile readout."

"Well, she doesn't have one."

"Really? Well, that's strange… could it be hidden?"

"Why would it be…?" I say, but I'm cut off by a flash of movement. A large bow suddenly sprung out of Jamie's hand, the one with the metal armplate.

"Woah!" We all exclaim. Jamie isn't holding the bow, but it's still stuck in her hand. I look closer and see that it somehow came out of the armplate, fully strung and everything. Jamie nocks an arrow, and lets it loose. It flies quickly across the plains and falls into the distance.

"Jamie, you have four types of arrows. This is your basic arrow, all around decent. Concentrate hard enough and you can make it faster." Jeremie says from what is obviously an intercom. Jamie pulls out another arrow, this one is slimmer and longer, there's none others like it in the quiver though.

"This makes it faster, but less accurate. You can also make it fire, which is slower, but more powerful." On cue, the arrow changes back to normal and the tip bursts into flame.

"The last one is ice. Normal speed, but it can almost permanently freeze any opponent." The arrow changes back to the same shape as the first one, but it's a whitish-blue color. The color of ice.

She spins and shoots an ice arrow at a nearby rock. As soon as it hits, the entire rock freezes over instantly.

"Okay, that's enough practice." I say.

"Yah, we need to destroy the guardian." Jeremie says. Jamie looks over, pulls out an ice arrow, and shoots the guardian.

It hits the ball dead on, and the whole thing freezes over. Unfortunately, an instant after it does all the ice falls back off and disappears.

"That's not going to work. I've uploaded one of your basic arrows with a program that should destroy it. Try that." Jeremie says. Jamie takes out a normal arrow, and it glows white for a second before resuming it's normal shape. Jamie takes another shot at the guardian, hitting it square again.

The guardian begins to shrink, but after a moment, it stops and grows again until it reached it's normal size.

"Jeremie, it didn't work." I say, looking up at the sky.

"I don't know why it didn't work… all my simulations said it would work guaranteed."

"I don't know…" Yumi says. I walk over and put my arm around her, she lays her head on my shoulder. I look over to see Jamie isn't there anymore.

"Hey Ulrich, look!" Jamie is next to the guardian, her hands on it's firey surface. Her hands are glowing a mysterious green color.

"Jamie! How are you doing that?" I ask, staring at it. The guardian is beginning to shrink slowly.

"I don't know!" Pretty soon, the guardian is gone, and Macas and Aelita fall down to the ground unconscious.

"Woah, they're back!" Jeremie says.

"Who's back?" Jamie asks, but I don't think she needs an answer.

"How did you get us out?" Aelita asks, standing up and brushing herself off as I give Macas a hand up.

"Jamie did it." Yumi says simply. Macas shakes his head and looks at her disbelievingly.

"Jamie? What are you doing here? And what happened?" He looks around confused.

"We were in a guardian." Aelita says.

"So did the program have like a delayed effect?" Yumi asks Jeremie.

"No, the program terminated itself, then the guardian was destroyed… holy shit!"

"What's up?"

"Jamie has 1,000 life points!" Everyone except Jamie's eyes go as wide as saucers.

"So? Is that bad?" Jamie asks quietly, obviously confused.

"We can only have 100 life points at max." I mention to her, puting it in perspective.

"So how did that happen?"

"I don't know, but let's go deactivate the tower." Macas says, pointing to the tower, and we all start running for it. Suddenly, eight red crab like things walk out from behind a boulder. I turn around to see eight more have appeared behind us.

* * *

(Macas P.O.V.) 

Ulrich stops so suddenly I nearly run into him, I barely manage to stop in time. I see the eight crabs in front of us, and see more come from behind us with my peripheral vision.

_An ambush…_

Immediately, Ulrich, Yumi and I form a perimeter around Aelita and Jamie. I get a vision of a laser aiming for Jamie and think quick.

Igniting my blade, I swish it in front of her, deflecting the blast back to it's source. The crab explodes from it's own laser.

_Wait a minute… I just saw an attack aimed at Jamie! But I can only see attacks aimed at myself!_

Disregarding it so I can think more about it later, I prepare myself for the next onslaught of lasers.

* * *

**Mmmkay. The explanation for why Krys called Aelita Atilea. Krys memory works in weird ways sometimes, remembering odd things. She remembered Aelita's name, only backwards. Makes sense, right?**

**Now I have managed to do everything on the list AngElle gave me. I think... "updating, dedicating, apologizing, and making sure I'm not at fault." were her words. Did I get it all? I hope so.**

**Once again, sorry to everyone for being so late on this.**

**And if anyone cares, I totally revamped my profile cause I was bored and had writers block. Writing random things really does help to clear away writer's block, did you know that?**

**Now. Anyone who bothered to read all this crap that I'm putting at the end of the chapter, I will now give you something special. Spirit points for all! Whoo! (waves hands in circles)**

**Anyway, anyone who can guess why Jamie's arrow with Jeremie's program didn't destroy the guardian gets the next chapter dedicated to them. I promise. And trust me, AngElle will make sure I do.**

**Spirit Points for All! Whoo!**

**-Bighoggi14**


	17. The Knight is back

**Hi ya'll. o.O. Did I just say ya'll? Somebody slap me! I don't say that!**

**Anyways. Before somebody actually does slap me, I'm going to dedicate then begin chapter 17.**

**I promised at the end of last chapter that I would dedicate to anyone who correctly guessed why Jamie's arrow doesn't work.**

**No one got it. I feel special cause I outsmarted you all! That like... never happens...**

**Anyways, the real reason it didn't work is because Xana interefered. If you don't believe me check it out. Her arrow glowed white for a second before she fired. That was Xana. Bet you didn't expect that!**

**Now, no one got it right. But, this chapter is co-dedicated to sin.nighthawk and silver because they tried. Points for trying, see?**

**Now, I'm done rambling. I did a lot on this chapter. So, on with the story.**

* * *

(Macas P.O.V.) 

The battle has gotten worse and worse since it started. Xana has virtualized way too many crabs take out, and they have us surrounded. We've taken cover in a crevasse between two rocks, but we can't hold out much longer.

Odd was virtualized, but soon gone. Yumi put up a brave fight, but she didn't have enough defense to stay alive.

Jamie is still here, but being a newbie, she doesn't stand much of a chance. Aelita has lost a lot of life points, but has managed to stay alive.

Ulrich and I can't attack anymore, we're forced to keep blocking lasers to protect Aelita and Jamie.

There's at least twenty crabs surrounding the rock, waiting for the chance to attack. It looks as though we might actually lose a battle.

"Jeremie, any solutions? We're kind of stuck here." I yell, blocking another laser from hitting Aelita.

"We're out of solutions. I can't send in vehicles, they won't do you much good. There's not much else we can do."

"Ulrich, look out!" Aelita yells. I turn around in time to see Ulrich get nailed by a crab.

The crab reached in with it's foot and hit Ulrich in the back, hitting him aside like a flea. It then stretched beyond Aelita and pulled her out from our safe haven. I get a vision of at least ten crabs aiming for me and firing.

I turn around to try at block as many lasers as possible, but none come. Instead, they are all covered in a thick layer of ice. I turn to the side to see Jamie, who had obviously just let loose a barrage of ice arrows.

"Thanks Jamie." I say, but I get hit in the back of the leg by a laser from behind that I couldn't get to in time to stop. I turned around to see Ulrich finally vanish into wireframe and disappear.

_Uh oh…_

I have a bunch of crabs on one side momentarily frozen. Jamie next to me who I still have to protect, and…

"Help!"

_Aelita!_

I turn around to see Aelita already in the clutches of a strange new monster, but when I do, the familiar jolt of power washes over me again like a tidal wave.

This time though, I am in complete control. I know exactly what I'm doing, even though I don't even know the full extent of my powers.

"Jeremie, what is that thing?" I ask.

"It's a scythezoa, hurry and destroy it! It's draining Aelita's memory!" He says frantically.

_Well, that's not good._

First order of business: Aelita. I walk calmly outside the shelter, and the crabs charge their lasers. One look from me and they go hurtling away, hit by some invisible force.

I feel the crabs unfreeze from the ice cocoon Jamie trapped them in, and wave my hand towards Jamie. She is immediately surrounded by a semi-clear, dark red bubble. A shield impenetrable to a crab's lasers.

_Now it's time for fun._

Using my new speed, I launch myself into the air, igniting my blade at the same time. I bring it down on top of the scythezoa, where it penetrates deep into it's clear head. I bring it down, slicing completely through it's body. Realizing I still haven't killed it, I slice through the tentacles holding Aelita.

She falls to the ground, right into my waiting arms. I set her back on the ground and look at the retreating scythezoa. I use my mind to delve into it's programming, sifting through it's components like a pro.

_Woah! The scythezoa has 10,000 life points! No wonder they could never kill it!_

I clench my fist, halting it's retreat. I then seal it in a clear container, similar to the one Jamie is in, so it can't escape.

I turn back to look at Jamie, still inside the shield. The crabs are trying desperately to destroy it, but to no avail. I throw my sword at them, and using my psychic powers, guide it so it destroys all the remaining crabs before returning to me.

I release the bubble over Jamie, who is staring incredulously at me.

"Hey Jamie, could you come over here please." I say, and she nods. I gently pick her up with my mind and bring her over to me, setting her down carefully.

"Macas? Is that still you?" She asks quietly, almost fearfully. I just laugh.

"Yah Jamie, it's still me."

* * *

(Jamie P.O.V.) 

"Wha- what happened?" I ask, really confused. One minute, we're loosing the battle horribly. The next, Macas has amazing new powers and won the battle for us easily.

"It's too complicated to explain now. How would you like to be the one to destroy this pesky monster for good?" I just nod, dumbfounded.

"How am I going to do that?"

"The scythezoa has 10,000 life points, which makes it pretty hard to kill. But don't worry, I'm sure you can do it." He says and smiles. I feel myself get weak-kneed when he smiles at me.

"Okay, if you say so." I pull out an arrow and change it into a fire arrow, my most powerful. I realize that even with this, it will still take a lot of shots to kill it. Macas reaches out and pushes down my bow so it's pointing to the ground.

"Wait just a second." He closes his eyes, but I can still see them moving underneath his eyelids.

"Hmmm… so you have speed, fire, and ice? Nice touch… but none will be strong enough." He says without opening his eyes.

"How did you know that?" I haven't shot anything but an ice arrow since I freed Macas from the guardian.

"I just do. Hey Jeremie, have you ever figured out what the scythezoa does?"

"Um, yah. It drains Aelita's memory."

"But do you know why Xana wants it?"

"Um… no."

"He wants the keys to Lyoko. If he managed to drain all of Aelita's memory, he would have the code he needed to leave the supercomputer forever."

"Woah…. How did you know that?"

"I just scanned the scythezoa's code. So how about we not let Xana get that?"

"Good idea."

"And Jamie's going to do it." He says, finally opening his eyes. He smiles at me again, and I get that same feeling.

"Okay Jamie, I just gave you an insanely powerful new arrow. See if you can figure out what it is." I don't respond, just think. I concentrate on forming a new arrow, even though I don't know what it is.

Instantly, my arrow changes again. The fire dissipates from the end, and it looks the same as my basic. Except it has turned a sickly green color.

"What is it?" I ask, almost repulsed by it. I'm sure if I could smell, it would have a horrible odor.

"It's a poison arrow. It will cause 50 points base damage, and will keep draining life points eventually until the monster is destroyed." I open my eyes wide in shock.

_That's extremely powerful!_

"Go ahead, shoot it." I bring my bow back up and aim for the scythezoa. It's almost as though it knows what's coming and it's trying to escape. I let it fly, and my aim is perfect. It hits the strange symbol on the head of the scythezoa, completely bypassing the cage Macas imprisoned it in. It writhes in obvious pain as a green mist can be seen slowly invading the space inside it.

With a wave of his hand, Macas frees the scythezoa, which retreats frantically.

"What are you doing?" I ask, knocking another arrow. He just pushes my bow down again, laughing quietly.

"Don't worry about it. It's been mortally wounded. I figured it would be more painful for Xana if he had to watch his favorite monster die in front of him." He retracts his sword, and I return my bow and arrow to their previous positions. We both walk over to where Aelita is still lying on the ground unconscious.

"Hmm… Aelita, what are we going to do with you? Sleeping on the job…" Macas says, still smiling. He reaches down and picks her up, but she doesn't respond. I touch her arm, and my arm glows green again. I stare at is strangely as Aelita wakes up.

"What was that?" I ask, even though I doubt anybody knows.

"I don't know, but I can find out. I have to go inside your mind first. Do you mind?" Macas asks me. Startled, I'm not sure how to respond, but I find myself shaking my head.

"Don't worry, I've become good at this." He closes his eyes again, but this time only for a couple seconds. When Aelita stands on her own feet again, he opens his eyes.

"Jamie, your special power is healing. You just rejuvenated Aelita. You drained the life points from the guardian and transferred them to yourself. That explains how you got so many life points." He says to me. He then looks at Aelita who looks confused. "Good morning my princess, have a nice nap?" Aelita just smiles.

"Why yes I did, but I really shouldn't have had it." She says. After a minute, she looks around. "Let me guess. I called for help and you got your powers back?" Macas just nods.

"Well, shall I go deactivate the tower then?" She asks rhetorically, but Macas grabs her arm as she begins to run off.

"Hold on a minute. I think Jeremie has something he wants to talk about."

"How did you know that? I'm not on Lyoko, so you can't read my mind…" Jeremie says from above.

"I don't have to be psychic to know that."

"Well, you're right. Jamie, I really didn't want to expose you to this. This is more than just a video game, this is a life and death situation. We must deactivate each tower Xana controls, or else it could mean the end of the world. When we disappear, we go into danger every single time, which could mean death."

"I understand." I say simply.

"Each time Aelita deactivates the tower, we reverse time, back to before Xana attacked. Everyone who hasn't been to Lyoko doesn't remember it. Now that you have, you can. I'm giving you a choice. I can remove your profile from the system, which will mean you forget the time travel like everyone else."

"So now you have a choice to make. Do you want your safe life as a normal teenager, or do you want to face extreme danger and possibly die?" He says. I seriously contemplate this offer. I'm not entirely sure I want to fight Xana, and I'm sure they don't need me. I also feel this lurking feeling, something that tells me that I could die. That I am more likely than anyone else to die first.

But I look to Macas, who is looking at me intently, and the feeling goes away. I feel safe around him, and I'm sure he won't let anything happen to me.

"Jeremie… I want to help."

* * *

**Mmkay. I don't want to ramble much on this one. Meh. Not gonna work. Oh well, I tried.**

**Now. I'm sorry for not updating sooner... again... I've been getting worse and worse at that. But! I have an excuse/explanation. I did something stupid and got grounded off the computer for a week.**

**But I'm back now, and I don't intend to get grounded again for a while. Mmkay. You guys need incentive :P.**

**Anyone who... I don't know. I'm too lazy to figure out a question and have you guys guess. How about... whoever sends me their favorite quote, will get a dedication in the next chapter. And if there's too many people, I'll just mention you all.**

**The quote doesn't have to be from any of my stories or anything. Just a quote you like.**

**Thanks!**


	18. Most popular?

**Bwa ha ha. It's only been... what, four days? Whoo! Slap some butter on me cause I'm on a roll! ... please pretend I didn't say that. Cause I didn't. It was the little voice that likes to manipulate me everyonce in a while. Yes. I have a little voice in my head. Deal with it. I have to. Hey! No making fun of the readers! ... stupid little voice. Now, before I scare you all by fighting with myself, I will post the story.**

**Oh! I almost forgotted! Thanks to the little voice for reminding me! I promised to dedicate this chapter to anyone who left me a lovely quote. Now... let's see...**

**Silver Phoenix-Dragon; Raven2090; and sin.nighthawk, your quote have been added to my totally awesome list. Thanks a bunch, here's a chapter in your honor!**

* * *

(Jamie P.O.V.) 

The return to the past trip was just as weird as they said it would be. Absolutely everything was like it was before, down to the little cough the English teacher did before she began talking.

Karyssa couldn't remember the return trip this time, or maybe if she did she just forgot because she wasn't around Odd.

We went through the day as normal as possible. It was really annoying that I had to do all my homework over again. But there was a test in math that I was more ready for, and I think I did better this time around.

After school, we hung out around the bench. Macas wasn't talking much, not even to me. Usually whenever I talk, people listen because I don't talk often. But Macas seemed distant today.

"Hey Macas, what's up? You've barely said a word since we got here." Ulrich asks him. Macas just shrugs.

"I don't know. I just get a feeling something is going to happen today."

"Is this a bad something?" Yumi asks kind of nervously.

"No, more of a… annoying something. Just something that's going to give me trouble. Or maybe I just ate something funny for lunch, I don't know." He says, bringing a laugh out of the group. As we are, a bunch of girls walk up to us.

"Hi there." The girl in front says. She looks familiar from somewhere, I bet I have her in one of my classes or something…

"Hi. Can I help you with something?" Ulrich asks.

"I just wanted to introduce myself to Macas." She says. I don't like her attitude. The way she holds herself, the way she talks… it just reminds me of someone with an ego too big for their head.

"Oh, well hello then." Macas says, cocking his head to one side. I love it when he does that, it's so adorable.

"Hi Macas, my name is-"

"Heather, right?" He interrupts, surprising her and her whole group.

"Yeah, how did you know that?"

"I've seen you around." He says.

"Oh. Did you know I am the most popular girl in school?" She says. The way she did that reminded me directly of Sissi.

"Uh… no. I didn't know that."

"Yah, I've got a list of about twenty boys who want to date me." Macas just raises an eyebrow.

"Okay…"

"I just wanted to say that a lot of people think you and I would make a great couple." She says before walking off without saying another word. Her group lingers for a moment, trying to cover up their giggling with their hands and failing miserably. As soon as they realized Heather left, they took off running after her.

When Heather said that, I found myself in a wave of jealousy. Even though rational thought tells me that Macas would never like someone like her, my emotions are taking over.

What if Macas does like her? And he doesn't want to be around me anymore? I don't know if I could handle it…

"Well that was… interesting…." Macas says trailing off.

"Even Sissi never did anything like that to me…" Ulrich mumbles. Normally we would think this is funny, but it turned out to be more creepy than funny.

"What did Sissi do for you?" Macas asks him.

"She pretty much told me she liked me back in fifth grade. She's had a crush on me and has called me Ulrich dear ever since."

"I really hope Heather doesn't do that for…" Macas begins, but he's cut off.

"Oh Ulrich Dear!" Says a voice that makes everyone cringe. I turn around to see the silhouette of Sissi standing above me.

"Sissi, we had a deal." I say fairly.

"I wasn't talking to you. And besides, the most popular girl in school doesn't have to keep a deal with someone like you."

"But…" I begin, but Sissi cuts me off again.

"So Ulrich dear…" She begins, but surprisingly Macas cuts her off.

"Ow, guys do you hear that? There's this screeching noise in the wind and it's hurting my ears." Everyone begins to smile as Macas claps his hands over his ears.

"What do you say we go inside?" He asks, standing up. Everyone else stands up with him and we all walk away, leaving a very pissed off Sissi in our wake.

We ended up going to Jeremie's room, where we find his computer beeping. Amazed, Jeremie pulls out his laptop, but it doesn't have an alarm going off.

"Strange…" Jeremie says, sitting down at his computer. After a couple minutes of typing, he turns back to us.

"It's amazing. Xana has revealed a new sector!" Everyone jumps up at this.

"What? But he already revealed his last one, sector five!" Ulrich says incredulously.

"Well, either he just created this one or he's kept it well hidden."

"So does that mean we have a tower to deactivate?" Yumi asks.

"No, and that's why the alarm on my computer went off and not my laptop. The alarm from my computer just told me something was happening on Lyoko."

"We should probably go anyway, to check it out." Ulrich says.

"I don't think so, it would probably end up being a trap. Xana knows Jeremie, and he probably knows that he would have an alarm for this. Xana knows we know, and he's waiting for us." Jeremie replies.

"I don't think so. I think if we pass this up we're going to lose a valuable opportunity to check out this new sector." Ulrich says.

"Ummm…. Guys?" Odd says, and we all look at him. As soon as we do, we all realize our big mistake.

Odd is still holding one certain girl close to him. A certain girl who doesn't know about Lyoko.

* * *

(Macas P.O.V.) 

I look towards Odd and my blood freezes. Karyssa is standing there, a blank confused look on her face.

"Um, does anyone want to explain what Xana is? It sounds familiar, but I don't know where from." She says.

"It sounds familiar? You've heard of Xana before?" I ask incredulously.

"Uh… oh yeah! Odd got a text message on his phone saying something about a Xana attack." Odd looks sheepish, but that's not really important.

"That's from before the RTTP…" I say quietly. Sometimes, I just have to wonder if Karyssa really can remember the return trips.

"Woah, I suddenly just got a huge déjà vu. It feels like we did the whole day twice…" She says.

"She can remember the return trips!" Jeremie exclaims. As if on cue, Jeremie's computer starts beeping again. He barely has time to look at it before we all get thrown back in time again.

* * *

"Oh. Did you know I am the most popular girl in school?" Heather says to me. I just sit there dumbfounded. I'm back sitting on the grass again. 

"Uh… yah. I actually did know that." I say distracted.

Why did we have a return trip? Jeremie didn't activate it, he would have told us he was going to….

"Yah, I've got a list of about twenty boys who want to date me." She says, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Well Heather, I know that a lot of people think we would make a great couple… but I am REALLY not interested at the moment." I say, standing up. I really don't care about being rude right now, I just want to figure out how Xana pulled off a return to the past.

If Jeremie hadn't, Xana must have done it.

"Wait a minute, are you rejecting me?" Heather exclaims, totally caught off guard. I turn back to her with a smirk on my face.

"I don't know, were you asking me out?" I look back at Heather, smiling.

"Uh… uh… no! Of course not! See, if I didn't ask you out, that means you didn't just reject me!"

"Yah. Now… we've got to go somewhere now." I say, turning around and walking away.

"C'mon guys, let's go before Sissi shows up." I mutter and they all get up quickly, especially Ulrich.

When we're a safe distance away, I turn to Jeremie.  
"Okay Einstein, any theories?"

"Well, I know that Xana's behind it, because I didn't do it. How he did it, I'm not sure. How about we go to my room and check it out?" He asks, and everyone nods in agreement. We all walk quickly to Jeremie's room, hoping to end this quickly.

As soon as we enter, Jeremie sits at the computer chair and Aelita stands next to him. Everyone else plops down on one of the two beds in the room, waiting for Jeremie to figure it out.

"Um… does anyone want to explain what Xana is? It sounds familiar, like from a dream…" Karyssa says, and I slap my forehead.

_Why do I keep forgetting she doesn't know?_

"Um… we'll explain later Krys. Right now… it's kind of complicated to understand." Odd says, still holding her tight.

I still think it's kind of funny that Odd and Karyssa are always close together like that, but still aren't officially dating. I think Odd might like to, but I think he's also afraid that Karyssa might forget, and he'll have to ask her over and over again.

After a couple minutes of uncomfortable silence, Jeremie speaks up.

"I think I might know how he's doing it." He says. We all perk up immediately as he swivels around in his chair to face us.

"This new sector has always been there, as far as I can tell. Xana has just kept it concealed. It's where he lives." Everyone does a double take.

"But he lives in sector five!" Ulrich exclaims.

"Actually no, I don't think so. I'm not sure, but I think of sector five as more of… a personal library, to use layman's terms. It's where he stores all his data."

"So what's the point of this sector?" Odd asks.

"Well… if sector five is his library, then the new one must be his control panel… for lack of a better term. It's how he activates towers and possesses people and things."

"Is there towers in it?" Yumi asks, tilting her head to one side.  
"I don't know. But we need to go find out. And soon."

"Why soon?"

"Because Xana is using this new sector to somehow control the return to the past."

"Why didn't he ever do that before?"

"I think that's how he kept it hidden. Now that he used it to hack into my systems, I can hack back into his."

"So… what's so bad about going back in time?" Jamie perks up. We all look at her strangely because she actually talked and asked a question, but Jeremie answers her.

"Because when the supercomputer is reset in going back in time, it gets stronger. It's good for us, but even better for Xana. It means he's getting stronger and he can do more."

"Then let's go, we've got to find a way to shut him down!" I say, standing up. Before anyone else can, Jeremie's computer begins to beep again.

"Too late!" Jeremie exclaims as we're thrown into the past yet again.

* * *

**Anybody want a quote? I do. Here we go... find a good one... **

**529. "There are no personal problems which cannot be solved through the suitable application of explosives."**

**Aint it the truth?**

**I am... extremely hyper right now. So I'm going to get off before I get myself in a load of hurt... most likely from impact of monitor on head or something...**

**Anyone who reviews... get's a quote? Yeah. That sounds good. Reviews equals quotes. Have fun people!**

**Whoo!**

****


	19. Time Travel Trouble

**Hey all! I'm back! No talking this time, straight to the story! Quotes I promised everyone are at the end, so make sure you read all the way through!**

* * *

(Karyssa P.O.V.)

"Oh. Did you know I am the most popular girl in school?" Heather says to Macas. Macas just looks at her strangely.

"What the hell…?" He says quietly.

"Excuse me?" Heather asks, looking shocked. Macas turns around and looks at us.

"Did we just…?" He says, but trails off when everyone nods.

"I'd say we need to get to the factory. Now." Ulrich says, standing up. Everyone immediately stands up and we run off, not saying anything else to Heather or her gang.

I run along, mostly because Odd had me stand up with him, but I still follow them anyway. I have no idea why we're randomly running into the woods, or even where the factory is. But somehow, it all sounds familiar.

The second we enter the woods though, a bright light, brighter than the sun, comes rushing at us in the shape of a large dome. It hits us all, and I feel peaceful, almost sleepy.

* * *

"Oh. Did you know I am the most popular girl in school?" Heather says again to Macas. I look around completely befuddled. 

_We just did this maybe two minutes ago!_

"Dammit!" Macas says loudly. Without anyone talking, we all stand up and run off to the woods again. I turn back around to see Heather looking at us strangely.

_Is this some kind of déjà vu that only I'm having or what? I think maybe Macas is having it too because he didn't say the same thing before and after…_

We enter the forest and I expect to see the bubble appear again. But this time it doesn't come. When it doesn't, we all slow our pace down to a fast walk. I turn to Odd, who is talking beside me.

"Odd, why do we keep running to the forest?" I ask him. He looks at me strangely, then something seems to click.

"You can remember it? We keep doing this over and over again?"

"Yeah. So you are having this déjà vu too?"

"It's not a déjà vu. Xana is doing this. I'll explain later, okay?" He asks me, and he asked so nicely, that no matter how much I want to keep digging for information, that I'm willing to wait.

We get into a clearing in the woods, there's not much here except for a manhole cover and a few bushes. I look around as everyone stops, expecting to see something that we're all waiting for, but only Ulrich walks to the middle of the clearing.

Ulrich reaches down and pries open the manhole, but as soon as he does, the white light comes back. It quickly envelops us all, throwing me back into that state of peace.

* * *

"Oh. Did you know I am the most popular girl in school?" Heather says to Macas. I look at Macas expecting an interesting answer, but he's seething with anger. 

"Dammit!" He yells, "We were close that time!" I stare at him in shock. I have never heard Macas cuss so vehemently before. And for no apparent reason.

All of the sudden, Odd stands up. Considering he has his arm around me, I am somewhat forced to stand up with him. Ulrich, Yumi and Macas stand up, followed by Jeremie and Aelita. Jamie, I noticed, stood up first, even before Odd, and was walking away towards the forest.

Everyone runs off towards the forest, and I follow them bewildered.

"Odd, what's going on?' I ask the boy running next to me. He looks back at me with a look of concentration on his face.

"You don't remember this time, do you?" He asks me. I rack my memory for anything I'm supposed to remember that would explain us running off into the woods, but nothing comes up.

"Remember what?" I ask him. He just shakes his head.

"I'll explain later…" He mumbles, but I think I heard him say 'again' really quietly. We enter the forest, and soon after, a clearing. We stop inside the clearing, and Ulrich squats down.

I look over to see him grab the lid of a manhole and pry it off. He pushes it to the side and immediately climbs down the ladder. Yumi follows him, and everyone else follows suit. I go in last, wondering why we're all climbing into the sewers at such a fast rate.

At the bottom, there's three skateboards and two scooters. Odd, Ulrich and Yumi grab skateboards, while Aelita and Jeremie grab the scooters. Aelita and Jeremie take off into the semi-darkness on their scooters, while Yumi follows suit on a skateboard.

Odd and Ulrich nod to each other and hand their skateboards to Jamie and me. They look at Macas who nods in approval.

"You can skateboard, right?" Odd asks. I look and Jamie, who nods slightly.

"Kind of." I say, nervous.

"Can you stay on the board and move at the same time?" Ulrich asks. I nod my head, hoping that I can manage.

"Good." Macas says. Jamie takes off somewhat slowly, but manages to pick up speed along the smooth walkway. I carefully step on the board and push myself along, and eventually I too pick up speed. Macas, Ulrich and Odd run alongside me, keeping up fairly easily.

After a short ride, I find the place where Yumi and Jamie stashed their skateboards, and Aelita and Jeremie must have put their scooters. I carefully get off the skateboard, but it still slides from underneath me. Before I fall, I feel a strong pair of hands on my back, holding me up. They help me back up into a standing position. I turn around to find Odd there, looking into my eyes.

"Thank you Odd…" I say breathlessly. I'm not breathless because of the skateboard ride, but some feeling inside me seems to be constricting my airflow. I feel my throat clench up, and I can't talk anymore. Luckily, Odd just smiles at me.

"C'mon, let's go." He says, pointing to a ladder. I climb up and out of the already open trapdoor-like opening and onto what looks like a bridge. I see Jamie on the other side, running inside an old factory. Ulrich and Macas are already halfway across, sprinting hard.

"What do you say to a race?" Odd says, looking at me with a competitive grin. I can't help but smile myself.

"Sure, why not." I hear myself say. Odd counts to three, and we both take off running.

Somehow I manage to win, but I think Odd went easy on me. We enter the factory and inside there are three ropes going down to the main floor.

"Um… Odd?" I say, looking at the large distance down.

"Yeah?"

"Well um…" I say, backing away from the edge a little bit.

"You're scared of heights?" He says, looking at me kindly. I slowly nod my head.

"I have been for a very long time." I say quietly. He just smiles slightly.

"Do you trust me?" He asks. I tilt my head slightly.

"I… guess… so." I say slowly. He just turns around.

"Climb on my back, close your eyes, and hold on tight." He says. I know what he's going to do, he's going to jump off with me on his back. Suddenly my fear of heights triples. But somehow, I feel like it's okay because… it's Odd. I doubt I would do it if it were anyone else.

I walk over to him and put my arms around his stomach. I can feel his abs through his shirt, and it sends goosebumps up my arms. He laughs.

"Here…" He grabs my legs and pulls me up so I'm riding piggy-back on him.

"There. Now hold on tight." He says. I close my eyes and hold on for dear life. I feel him run and then suddenly we're both weightless. But then we're not weightless anymore as he hits the floor.

I feel his legs buckle underneath him, but somehow he stays up. I carefully get off, opening my eyes.

And when I do, I find myself hugging him.

"Thanks Odd." I say, holding him tightly. I breathe in his scent, it smells good. It makes me feel… secure…

Odd pulls away, but keeps his arm around my waist. Whether it's out of habit or whatever, I don't care. But I like it.

We walk into an old freight elevator and Odd pushes the large red button. The doors close silently.

* * *

**I don't know about you, but I had fun writing this chapter. It was kind of short, I know, but I needed to end it there for my own purposes. Next one should be longer.**

**Yes, I know this chapter is like A Great Day, an actual episode. But it will be a bit different from the episode, which I will explain moreso next chapter.**

**Anyways, I promised to anyone who reviewed last chapter that I will leave quotes. I had 8 reviews, thanks people! Here's your quotes!**

**550. "Tchotchke. HA! Try pronouncing that!" Anyone who does so correctly gets a dedication next chapter. Spell it out how you think it is phoenetically, and please no cheating. That means just guess!**

**548. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." Just for the hell of it, anyone who can tell me what that's from gets their name mentioned :P**

**551. "When life gives you lemons, make grape juice, then sit back and let the world wonder how you did it."**

**564. "Oh, I don't blame Congress. If I had 600,000 billion dollars to spend, I'd be irresponsible too."**

**553. "Some people are born on third base thinking they hit a triple."**

**556. "There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot."**

**560. "A cow was recently beaten to death by assorted trinkets. Police have reported this as the first known 'knick knack patty whack'."**

**558. "Not to be absolutely certain is, I think, one of the essential things in rationality."**

****


	20. Enter the Kitsune

**I'm back and I'm... well, not better than ever, but I'm still here, aren't I? And it hasn't been TOO long since my last update, right? Anyways, I guarantee you're gonna like this one. If you're confused when you start reading, don't worry. I was just too lazy to write up what everyone knew was going to happen :P**

* * *

(Krys P.O.V.) 

This is the second time I've been to the old building, and the third time we've been stopped by a blinding white light and had to start over again. Each time, Heather says the exact same thing in the exact same tone and we just dash off.

The first time, we were inside a sewer when it came, and Odd refused to tell me why it was happening. The second time, we made it out of the sewers and at the end of the bridge to the old building. We get down into a golden room, and I confront Odd.

"Odd, what's going on here?!?!" I finally blurt out.

* * *

My head is spinning as I walk into the large tube, the thing Odd called a scanner. He just explained everything to me. Xana, Lyoko, Aelita… all of them are flying through my head so fast, I can't make sense out of it. 

The doors close behind me, leaving me trapped inside the small container. From what Odd told me, this is the way to get into the virtual world.

"Transfer Karyssa." Jeremie's voice says. A small bar of light appears at my feet and rises. It nearly blinds me, so I close my eyes.

"Scanner, Karyssa." It feels like a fan begins to blow inside the chamber. Except, more… unconventional. More sporadic. But it begins soft and gets rougher and rougher as time goes on.

"Virtualization!" Jeremie yells, and I feel myself get lifted from the ground and floating in midair by the sheer force of the wind. I have no idea what's happening, and I flail about, trying to get to solid ground again. But I realize I can't move my arms or legs anymore.

After a moment, I get a falling sensation. My eyes snap open and I realize I actually am falling. I fling myself about, trying to get my sense of balance before I hit. Too late. I brace myself for impact, but it never comes.

Instead, I look up to find myself once again in the arms of Odd. He carefully sets me back on my feet, making sure that I have my balance again before letting go.

"Wow… thanks Odd… again." I say. It feels weird, because I have no sense of smell, and a limited ability to feel. I look around, taking in my surroundings. It looks like I'm in a forest of some sort, but not like any normal forest.

Large, wide paths curve in between trees that seem to stretch endlessly upward and down. I walk over to the edge of the path I am on. Below me is… nothing. Blank space is underneath the path. I turn around to look at Odd again, and jump in surprise.

"Odd… what are you?" Odd is standing… no, actually he's crouching on the ground. Like normal, he's wearing all purple, but different clothes. Most noticeable though is the fact that he has huge cat paws instead of hands and… is that a tail?

Yes! Odd's tail is swinging behind him, reflecting his face, which looks amused.

"I'm a cat. Well, sort of. I'm kind of half-cat. But what I am isn't really important. What's important is what are you?" I just look at him strangely.

"What do you mean, what am I?" I ask him confused, but somehow, I get the feeling I've changed just as much as he has.

"Take a look at yourself." He says, and I look down. The first thing I see is that my hands aren't my normal hands anymore. They have… some kind of gloves on them. They're kind of like Odd's gloves… but not quite. They're different, more… fox like.

I'm not wearing my normal tshirt. Instead, I'm wearing a much more revealing orange spaghetti-strap shirt, with a darker brownish triangle on the bottom. My normal jeans have been replaced by large, baggy brown cargo jeans.

"You look like a fox to me." Odd says. Before I can respond, Yumi, Ulrich, Jamie, Macas, and Aelita all run up. Having already had my initial shock with Odd, this time I'm amazed at how human everyone else is. A samurai, a geisha, an archer… I'm not sure what Macas is, some kind of sword wielder. Well, an elf is still humanoid, but close enough. Odd is the only part-animal person here.

"Sorry I materialized you guys so far away. I hit the wrong key. You all there now?"

"Yah, we're here." Ulrich.

"So Krys… what are you going to say to Odd? He just called you a fox." Yumi says with a smirk. When I realize what she's talking about, I blush.

"Yumi! You know I didn't mean it like that!" Odd says loudly. Yumi just looks back at him with a completely straight face. The kind of face that tells you that they know you're lying. They stare at each other for a second before Odd blushes and turns away.

"I find this amusing." I hear Macas whisper. My ears perk in the direction of the sound, and I turn my head slightly. Macas is standing at least five feet away from me, I shouldn't have been able to hear that small whisper. But I could still hear it loud as day.

_Wait a minute…_

I reach up on top of my head and feel two furry, pointed ears there. Sticking right out of the top of my head!

"Woah! I have ears on top of my head!" I say loudly, and everyone laughs.

"Yeah, I guess you can't see yourself, can you?" Ulrich says with a chuckle.

"Well, obviously not. Is there anything else I'm missing?" I say, my curiosity piqued again.

"Um…" Odd says, walking over to me. "Krys. You're a fox. What is one of the most noticeable features of a fox?" He says. I think for a second.

"I'm not sure…" I say.

"Kitsune, you have a tail." Yumi blurts out. My eyes widen in shock, but as I reach behind me, I realize I do have a tail. Long and bushy. I also realize I can consciously move it. I swing it around front so I can look at it. Brownish, but with a orange tip. Exactly like a fox tail.

"Weird…" Then what Yumi said hit me like a ton of bricks. "Kitsune? What's a kitsune?" I ask. It sounds familiar, but I can't exactly remember.

"A kitsune is a Japanese fox demon." Yumi says.

"Okay guys, we need to go check out sector… what would that be, six now?" Macas says.

"Yup. And the only way to get there so far is from a deactivated tower." Jeremie says out of nowhere.

"Jeremie? Where are you?" I ask, looking around. My sensitive fox ears should have been able to determine his location, but it sounded like it was coming from everywhere.

"He's up in the lab still. He doesn't come down." Macas says.

"I guess we don't get vehicles, do we?" Odd asks.

"Nope. I don't have enough power to materialize six of them. So, off on foot to the nearest tower, 14 degrees south of your position." Jeremie says. We all begin walking in the direction Jeremie says.

"So Jeremie… Krys' weapons? She doesn't seem to have any…" Odd says, walking next to me. Jeremie doesn't respond, but I can hear the sound of his furious typing.

"Uh… there must be a glitch or something. I don't know, but it's not registering any weapons."

"Uh oh."

"That's not good."

"No weapons?" I hear murmuring throughout the whole group.

"Well, she must have some kind of power… or something, right?" Odd asks again.

"You know as well as I do Odd that it doesn't say the powers. You have to learn it on your own."

"Oh great." I mumble.

"Crabs at three o'clock!" Jeremie yells, "Xana obviously doesn't want you exploring the new sector!"

I turn slightly to my left and see three large, red, insect-like, mechanical creatures coming toward us.

"Three crabs? That's it? There's six of us here that's… like three a piece!" Odd says.

"Well, ignoring the fact that Odd's math is way off, there's also two tarantulas coming from behind and the scythezoa on the right." Jeremie says.

I look behind me to see more mechanical creatures, these are more of a silver color. I don't know what Jeremie is talking about on the right, I don't see anything. But I hear behind me Ulrich pull his sword out of its sheath.

I hear the cocking of a gun, and a knocking of an arrow, but those are the last sounds I recognize. I hear an almost electric-like hum, and a sound like a knife blade scraping against a hard surface. I turn around to see everyone except for Aelita has some kind of weapon.

Macas has an energy sword, that was the humming noise, but I don't recognize the knife blade until Yumi throws a Japanese style fan through the air, which hits what Jeremie called a crab. The crab explodes, and the fan returns to Yumi. I see Macas run over to me and get between me and the tarantulas, his blade ready to go. The tarantulas begin to fire out of their legs which turned into the barrels of a gun. Macas deflects shot after shot with his sword, and Ulrich steps in to help. Together they manage to stop the onslaught of lasers from hitting me.

I turn around again to see Odd has destroyed the last crab, but I still don't know how. Ulrich and Macas advance on the tarantulas, which are still firing repeatedly. As soon as there is a break however, they rush in. Ulrich on the left, Macas on the right, they run up the sides, swords ready for the kill.

With my fox ears, I hear something. Time seems to slow down for a moment as I hear the third tarantula warm up the barrel of it's guns and fire twice.

As time resumes it's normal speed, the lasers rocket down the middle of the path. Macas and Ulrich can't stop them, and everyone else dives out of the way.

I look to my left and see Aelita standing there, not fast enough to jump out of the way, and only one thought courses through my head.

We need to be anywhere but here! 

Coming from nowhere, orange smoke arises and blurs my vision. But with my ears, I can hear something amazing. I hear everyone in front of me, then in the blink of an eye, they're behind me. As the smoke clears, I find myself sitting on the ground behind the tarantulas. The lasers I manage to see fly past where Aelita and I were, and hit a rock behind us. I look to my right and see Aelita sitting next to me, wearing an expression showing she's just as amazed as I am.

As Ulrich and Macas destroy the tarantulas, I hear Yumi mumble something.

"A kitsune is a fox demon, not strong… but tricky and deceptive…"

As she says this, I realize that maybe I don't have any weapons, but I have something just as good.

_I can teleport…_.

* * *

**I enjoyed writing this chapter. It was a fun one to write.**


	21. Digital Sea

**Bwa ha ha. I bet you weren't expecting me to update so soon, were you, eh? Anyways, I'm getting better at this whole "updating" thing... (whatever that is) and anyways, I'll bet no one wants to read all this, so I'm going to skip it and just let you read the story.**

* * *

(Krys P.O.V.) 

"A kitsune is a fox demon, not strong… but tricky and deceptive…"

As she says this, I realize that maybe I don't have any weapons, but I have something just as good.

_I can teleport…_.

"What happened? That big smoke came up and after that you were over here!" Odd says, looking quickly between where I am and where I was.

"I have no idea. I didn't do it." Aelita says. And with that, everyone looks at me.

"Krys? Did you do that?" Ulrich says amazed.

_Well, if I'm right… then I can do… this!_

I think about being next to Odd, standing next to him. In the blink of an eye, and another flash of orange smoke, I am.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling that it was me." I say, a smile on my face. Odd jumps away quickly, surprised beyond belief.

"Woah! How did you do that?" Yumi asks. Deciding to have some fun, I concentrate on being next to Yumi. In a quick puff of smoke, I'm standing next to Yumi, my arm leaning on her shoulder.

"I don't know. But apparently, it's part of my powers." I say, and Yumi jumps away too.

"Okay, you've had your fun now. Now how about we go to the sixth sector like we had planned?" Jeremie says from above.

"You're no fun." I say jokingly. I quickly teleport to the front of the group and begin walking.

* * *

(Macas P.O.V.) 

I see Karyssa teleport around, and I can't help but laugh to myself.

_Well, at least someone is having fun…_

We all begin walking towards the distant tower, Karyssa leading the way. I see a puff of smoke and realize she teleported again. Except this time, she teleported about twenty feet in the air.

A surge of instinct automatically makes me want to rush forward and catch her before she hits. But when I see the look of complete calm on her face, I figure she has something planned. Nevertheless, I prepare myself to dive forward and catch her at a moments notice.

I see her look around, and then about eight feet off the ground she teleports far away, I can barely see the puff of smoke by the tower

"Jeez, what's taking you guys so long? Krys is already at the tower!" Jeremie says laughing.

"Oh shut up Jeremie. We can't all teleport like she can." Odd mumbles. I know Odd hates to walk, he'd rather be running or skateboarding.

After a couple minutes, Karyssa teleports right in front of me. I step back in surprise, but quickly regain my composure just in time to see Karyssa put on a face of discontent.

"You guys take forever." She says pouting.

"Just cause you can teleport doesn't mean you can rub it in our-." I begin to say, but I get cut off by her.

"Let's hurry this up, shall we?" She says. Suddenly I find myself and everyone else in front of the tower, the orange smoke receding.

"That's better." She says, and Odd hugs her from behind.

"That was genius." He says and we all enter the tower. We watch Aelita goes up to the top level while everyone else stays on the bottom level. We sit and wait for a few minutes while Aelita and Jeremie search the library of information in the tower, looking for the passageway into the sixth sector.

"Sorry Jeremie, I guess I wasn't much help." We hear Aelita say and look up to see her descending to out level.

"That's okay, because we got what we needed." Jeremie says. "I need you all to go outside the tower." The three of us go down to the lower level, and instruct the others to follow us.

We all walk outside the tower and wait for Jeremie's instructions. In the meantime, I explain to them what happened inside, and about the information we got.

"Okay guys, I got a lot of new information about sector six." Jeremie says.

"Okay… explain." Ulrich says impatiently.

"Sector six is just what I thought it was. Sector five is Xana's personal library, where he stores most of his information. But sector six is where Xana, the actual virtual being, lives."

"Okay then. How do we get there?"

"Apparently, we were wrong about the digital void. It doesn't just delete anything that goes in there. It's actually the portal to sector six." When Jeremie says this, Odd, Ulrich and Aelita all look at Yumi.

"But Yumi fell in once…" Ulrich says quietly.

"I don't remember anything from the sixth sector. All I know is as soon as I hit the digital sea, everything went black. The next thing I remember was waking up in a scanner."

"I'm going out on a limb here, but I have a guess." Jeremie says. "Sector six has never really been in use before. Xana only used it as a base to operate from. But this time, he activated a tower in sector six. That opened up the portal."

"So… now what?" Odd asks impatiently.

"Well, who's going to take the leap of faith?" No one says anything for a moment, everyone hoping someone else will do it.

"I'll do it Jeremie. I trust you." Aelita says, stepping forward. She approaches the edge and looks over the side. After a moments hesitation, I follow her.

"Not without your knight." I say, and she smiles at me. I grab Aelita's hand so we can't get separated during the jump, but as I do, I feel another hang grab my other.

I look to my right to see Jamie there, holding my hand.

"You want to go with?" I ask quietly, and she nods her head in agreement.

"Jeremie, Jamie's going to go with us."

"You sure Jamie?" Jamie nods, somewhat hesitantly.

"That's a yes Jeremie."

"Hold on," Aelita says quickly, "Before we go. What are the odds of you being right?"

"I'd say… about 80 percent chance that the digital sea is the portal to sector six."

"And 20 percent of…?" I ask nervously.

"20 percent it's a trap set by Xana." Aelita looks at me nervously.

"Don't worry. We'll be fine." I say reassuringly, even though I'm not sure myself.

"I'm going with you." Ulrich says, stepping up.

"Me too." Yumi immediately agrees.

"No, you two need to stay here. We don't know what's going to happen, and we don't want everyone going in at once." Jeremie says. I turn around and look at Ulrich, who looks like he's about to protest.

"Don't worry about it Ulrich. We'll be through in a couple of minutes, then you can come. We just need to test it first. Take care of Karyssa for me!" I say. I turn back to Jamie and Aelita, and nod.

"1…" I say.

"2…" Jamie says quietly.

"3!" Aelita yells, and we all jump, still holding hands. We fall down towards the digital sea we all tried hard to avoid before.

* * *

**Bwa ha ha, cliffy! Sorry, it's really short, but I had to end it there, it was the only real stopping place for a while. Anyways, I've gotta get off now, so I've just gotta post this real quick. Bye everybody!**


	22. Sector 6

**It's only been... what, six days since I updated? Not too bad.**

**There is some content in this and some upcoming chapters that are forcing me to change the rating on this up to M.**

**It's not too bad, but it will get significant enough to change the rating. Don't worry, nothing like any lemons.**

**If bloody violence offends you, you might want to stop reading. This chapter itself isn't too bad, but it gets worse later on.**

**Anyways, on with the story.**

* * *

(Macas P.O.V.)

We fall, and hit the digital sea. Instead of making a big splash like I expected, we just dive right through, not a ripple at all. But as soon as I hit the water, my vision goes black and I feel my consciousness slip away from me.

I feel a pair of hands roughly grab my shoulders and shake me awake. My eyes snap open, and my hand automatically grabs the hilt of my sword. I sigh in relief as I realize it's just Jamie, peering down at me.

"Are you okay?" She asks me as she helps me sit up.

"I'm fine. Just a little shaken up," I say, but something suddenly strikes me, "Jamie! Where's Aelita!" I ask, looking around.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." A voice right behind me says. I turn around to see Aelita there, sitting on her haunches looking at me. I sigh again in relief and allow my hand to drop from the cool, smooth metal of my sword hilt.

_Wait a minute, the cool smooth metal?_

I look down and realize that I could actually feel the smooth chrome. The coolness to the touch.

"Woah! I can feel things again!" I say, and Jamie and Aelita look at me strangely. After a moment, they look at me incredulously again.

"You're right!" They say simultaneously. I stand up, and I can feel the fold of my shirt in between my fingers. I feel the gloves on my hand stretching and conforming with my skin. I feel… is that a breeze?

As I take in my surroundings, I realize it IS a breeze. Wind in Lyoko! I look around, and see were in a dark cave of some sort. But it looks too familiar. Closer inspection reveals it isn't cave walls. They're bricks.

I look to my left and see the exit to the alleyway we're in. Without saying anything, I walk out, Aelita and Jamie following wordlessly. As I step into the bright light of day, I look out in awe at our surroundings.

We're in a city, like just like one in the real world. A street runs past us, buildings and shops on both sides. Traffic lights, crosswalks, the whole bit. Only one difference.

It's completely deserted. Not even a newspaper fluttering by in the breeze.

I look to my left and see a fire escape scaling up the side of a small building.

"I'm going to get a better look at our surroundings." I say, walking over to the fire escape. I grasp the cold metal in my hands and quickly climb up the side, the girls following suit.

As I step onto the top of the building, my mouth falls open. When Aelita and Jamie see, they both stare in wonder too.

The city is massive! All the other sectors make you look like you're in the middle of nowhere, but not here. Here, there's so much… stuff!

A wall circles the city. It's huge, towering over the buildings near it. The smaller buildings are near the outside, but they get progressively bigger as they reach the center. In the very center is a gigantic middle-ages castle, blending flawlessly with the modern city around it. The castle has only one tower, rising up in the center to overlook the entire city.

"Ma… Jamie… Aeli… are… there?" Jeremie's voice booms from above again, making us jump, even though it's full of static.

"Jeremie? Can you hear us?" Aelita asks loudly. After a moment, Jeremie's voice comes again, crisp and clear this time.

"There we go. It took me a long time to find a voice connection to this sector. But unfortunately, there's a complication. I can have either a visual connection, or a voice connection. Not both. I think that I'm going to switch to visual soon, I'd rather see than hear."

"Okay Jeremie, don't worry about us. Go ahead and send the others."

After a couple of minutes, nothing happens. Jeremie hasn't said anything yet though, so we're hoping that they're still working on it.

"Jeremie? Is everything alright?" Aelita asks about ten minutes later.

"… are they with you yet? They went through a while ago. I have no idea how long the transfer takes…"

"They're not here. How long after we went through did you finally manage to talk to us?"

"About… five minutes or so…"

"That means the transfer must be instantaneous. I woke up, and both Macas and Jamie were unconscious. We had only been awake for maybe… two or three minutes when you finally got to us."

"Oh wait… Ulrich's awake!" Aelita, Jamie and I look around confused.

"He's not here though." I say.

"He must be in a different part of the city then." Aelita says.

"City?" Jeremie asks confused.

"Yeah Jeremie. It's a city. This whole sector is one big circular city."

"Okay then. We need to find a way to get you all together. Do you have a point of reference… something everyone can see?"

"Yeah." Aelita says.

"In the middle of the city is a huge castle. How about we meet at the entrance to that?" I say, Aelita and Jamie nod in agreement. After a moment, Jeremie speaks again.

"Yeah, Ulrich's okay with that. He's awake, along with Yumi and Krys. Odd is still unconscious though, and he has a large bump on his head. Apparently, he landed weird." I try to hold it in, but I can't help myself.

"It's okay Jeremie. It's not like it would do any damage to Odd's thick skull anyway." I say, and we all burst out laughing. We get down off the building and begin walking up the deserted street towards the castle. All the roads seem to spiral outward from it, like a giant spider web.

"So guys… what's the new sector like?" Jeremie asks after a couple minutes of silent walking.

"Hmm… nothing too interesting. Just the fact that I can punch a brick wall and it would probably shatter my knuckles." I say shrugging. Aelita giggles a bit, and Jamie claps her hands over her mouth.

"Wha-? You can't break any bones in Lyoko." Jeremie says confused.

"Apparently not in sector six."

"Why? Is Aelita hurt?" Jeremie asks suddenly frantic.

"Calm down lover boy." I say laughing.

"I'm fine Jeremie."

"It's just that in this sector, we can feel everything. The breeze on my face, the tightness of my boots… everything." I say, still in awe myself.

"Wow, it must be amazing. Well, if it's okay with you, I'm going to switch to visual now."

"Go ahead Jeremie." We hear a click, kind of like the ending of a phone conversation, and Jeremie says no more.

I see something move in my peripheral vision, and my head snaps to the left. It was a shadow of a movement, but I know something moved. But in a deserted city… nothing moves.

_I guess it isn't so deserted after all… _

"Hey guys, be on your guard…" I say after a moment of thought. "I thought I saw something…" I turn around to face Aelita and Jamie, but they're gone.

I look around frantically, and spot them being carried away, bound and gagged. Two men are carrying them, they look like thugs from the real world.

"Hey!" I yell, and I immediately begin to sprint after them. I watch them turn the corner, and take it running full speed. I'm slower than I normally am, I can feel it. The boots I'm wearing may be comfortable, but they're not build for long distance running. Even though, I still catch up to the kidnappers fairly quickly.

There's only two of them, and they're both burdened down by the girls.

"Hey! Stop!" I yell. One turns around to look at me. He has a mohawk, standing a couple inches off his head. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a gun.

I freeze, knowing he has the advantage here. I suddenly see a vision, something I wasn't expecting. He fires off two rounds, lasers out of the ordinary handgun.

I quickly whip out my sword and ignite it, it's flame-red glow dancing across my body. I swing it deftly, deflecting one shot, then the other.

The thug drops Jamie flat on the ground. She still can't move, she's tied down. How they managed to bind and gag both Aelita and Jamie in those few precious seconds I had my back turned, I may never know.

The other thug promptly drops Aelita too, who lands with a thud. She's gagged, so she can't call out for me and activate my special powers. Both of the assailants pull out twin guns and begin firing at me rapidly. They're full automatic, unleashing a punishing volley of lasers upon me.

I don't know how, maybe it was the sight of the two girls laying helpless on the ground. Maybe I was just pissed at these guys for kidnapping these girls behind my back. Who cares?

All I know is that I deflected every single laser. They ricocheted off my sword and slammed into buildings around me, creating considerable holes in the architecture. On their last four shots, I make sure to take careful precision in where I place my blade.

This time, when they fired, they bounced off my sword and right back at them, destroying their own weapons. They drop the mangled mess, nursing their burnt hands. They both look up at me, glaring through the ski masks they were wearing. I don't know why they needed masks, it's not like I care who they are. They're just going to get devirtualized anyway.

They put up theirs fists and edge toward me. From what I could judge, they looked about in their early twenties, and had more muscle than brains.

Luckily for me, I had both. I retract my sword, clipping the handle back onto my belt. I put up my own fists, lowering down into my ready position.

These guys made me mad, and I needed some constructive way to vent my anger. Piercing their chests with a sword is not nearly as fun as knocking them flat.

The technique I had used against Jeremie when he was under Xana's control? I have no idea where I got it. I guess it just kind of came with my special powers. Anyway, I shrug it off. I don't have it now, so I'm going to have to settle for my normal one.

This is my own design, one I created mostly for defense when I lived in rough neighborhoods as a kid. All it does is deflect your opponent's attacks and forces them to create an opening. Then I strike, using slower, stronger punches because I already had the opening.

The first thug, the one with the mohawk, sprinted in with a lazy punch. He obviously thought he would take me out easily. I use my left hand to deflect his punch and push it upwards, and use my right hand to nail an awesome uppercut into his jaw. He falls backwards, landing with a thud. He looks unconscious, but I have to time to think about it because I see a vision of his friend attacking me from behind.

I sidestep his punch, then grab his hand, pinning it in between my arm and my left side. I use my right elbow as a battering ram into his stomach. I let go of his arm, using my now free arm to smash his face. He too falls backwards. I spin around quickly, nailing him with the heel of my foot, sending him to the floor hard. I turn around to look at him, he's definitely unconscious. His friend looks like it too. I must've put a lot of power into that once uppercut to knock him out so easily.

I decide to end this now.

"These guys will probably wake up soon…" I mumble to myself. I pull my sword off of my belt and ignite it. I hold it up high, and swing it down.

"Hmmph! Hm phmph!" I hear Aelita yelling, muffled through her gag, and stop. My sword is a mere inch from his chest. I look over to where Aelita and Jamie are, and I smile sheepishly.

"Oops. Sorry girls." I walk over and untie them both. Aelita gets up and quickly embraces me. As soon as she lets go, I get assaulted from the other side, where Jamie is hugging me like there's no tomorrow.

"Thanks Macas…" She mumbles quietly. I just smile and hug her back.

"No problem. I couldn't let two strangers run off with my two favorite girls, could I?" I say.

"Well, I need to devirtualize these guys before they wake up." I say. I walk over and plunge my sword down into Mohawk's chest.

To my horror, instead of him transforming into wireframe and vanishing, he stays there. To make it even worse…

Blood, real blood, is pouring out of the wound. It seeps into his dark clothing and onto the ground, making a small puddle by my feet. I watch in disgust as he coughs up blood before he stops breathing.

A puddle of blood is resting by my feet.

I feel myself get queasy. I've never liked the sight of blood, especially not in this large of an amount. But as I look over to the other guy, he begins to stir.

And I realize what I have to do.

* * *

**See what I mean? Not too violent. But I'm just changing it to M to be safe.**

**I have a section in my profile labelled pictures. So far, I've only had one up there, a picture of an OC from another story. But I was searching the internet and found an awesome picture. It's on my profile, for those of you who want to take a look. Very bottom.**

**I'd just like to say thanks to all my loyal reviewers. Reviews really do mean a lot to writers, it makes them feel like they're doing something special.**

**Until next time, this is Bighoggi14, signing out.**

**walks away**


	23. Virtual Murder

**Hi everybody. Sorry it's been so long. It's been, what... a couple of weeks? Don't kill me, it's not TOTALLY my fault... I got grounded again.**

**Anyways, excuses excuses, I know. On with the story.**

* * *

(Macas P.O.V.) 

I pull my blade out of the dead body, the fresh blood sizzling off of it's hot surface. Only after I remove it, does his body finally vanish.

But the blood remains, staining the ground an ugly color.

I walk over to where the other guy has begun to groan, looking around. I raise my sword high above my head, but before I plunge it down, I feel two arms wrap themselves around my waist.

"Don't do it… don't do it…" I immediately retract my sword and clip it to my belt. I turn around to see Jamie latched onto me, tears running down her face. I immediately give her a hug, trying to calm her down. She's nearly hysterical.

"Jamie, what's wrong?" I ask her gently. She just sobs into my shoulder.

"Jamie," She doesn't respond, "Jamie, look at me." She still doesn't move, so I carefully raise her chin until she looks at me.

"What's wrong?" Tears are still running down her cheeks, and she wipes them away quickly.

"It's… you can't kill these guys… it's… murder…" she manages to choke out. I nod slowly, understanding her concern.

"Jamie… these guys aren't real. They're just virtual beings sent here to kill us. It's not murder, they're not real. Xana designed them to be as real as possible so he would scare us off. We can't let him do that."

"Just virtual? Not real? What makes us real then? Is it something that we can see, that we can touch? Last I checked, you could touch him… Last I checked, you killed him."

"I didn't kill him. I devirtualized him. He's not real, he doesn't have a body of flesh and blood."

"Oh really?!?!" Jamie yells, almost hysterical. "Then what do you call that?!?!" She points to the puddle of blood remaining.

"It's virtual!" I say in my defense.

"So are you! Does that make you not real?!?" Jamie yells, backing away from me.

"Jamie, this is different! These creatures have no life, so you can't kill them!" I say, and she stares at me.

Fresh tears roll down her cheeks as she runs up and embraces me. I gently rub her back as her sobbing dies down.

"It's okay Jamie… I don't like it either. But I have to do what needs to be done." I say. I slide my hand in between our hug and grab my sword, pulling it out. I keep it deactivated for now, but I know what has to be done.

"No." She says firmly. She holds my hand, lacing her fingers with mine, forcing me to drop my sword. She does the same with the other as the metal hilt clangs to the ground.

I look over and see Aelita leaning up against the wall, tears running down her face as well, staring at the dark red puddle.

I hear a buzzing noise… one that sounds oddly familiar.

_Wait a minute… that's my sword!_

I look down to see the hilt isn't there anymore. As I do, a vision enters my mind.

The thug had apparently gotten up silently, and had stolen my sword, having no weapon of his own. He raises it high above his head, preparing to swing down.

I almost jumped out of the way, but I realized something. If I moved, he would strike Jamie, most likely in the head, killing her instantly.

I don't know if I could stand the sight of that in this new sector, where everything becomes real.

So instead of jumping out of the way like I should, I push Jamie away from me, leaving me no time for a defense.

She stumbles backwards, but doesn't fall. I try to dodge, but I don't get far before I feel a mind numbing pain in my right shoulder. I stumble forward, going down to one knee. The intensity of pain is something I have rarely felt before, so much that I scream out.

As I fall forward, I realize something. My sword is embedded in my shoulder. My falling forward must have wrenched it out of his hands. Before he can try and get it back, I reach back with my left hand and pull it painfully from my shoulder.

My shoulder doesn't hurt anymore. It's not that the wound is gone, it's that my brain is saying there's way too much pain, and I don't need to know it because I might pass out.

I've felt this before.

I stand up, holding my sword tightly in my left hand, the only one I can move. I watch in disgust as my own blood sizzles off my sword, leaving it clean again.

Rage builds up inside me, and I stare cold and hard at my assailant. I don't think Xana spent the time to give him emotions, because he looks at me, his ski-masked face totally blank.

I walk slowly towards him, and he backs up. Deciding I don't want to waste time chasing him, I hurl my sword at him.

"NO!" Jamie yells, but it's too late.

I'm right handed, so I can't throw very good with my left hand. Instead of hitting him in the chest, it fell a little low, piercing his stomach. He stumbles backward, blood seeping into his black sweatshirt and dripping onto the ground. He keels over, falling to his knees.

I walk forward, put one foot on his chest and grab my sword with my hand. I push backwards, and my sword pulls free.

I turn around as I hear a resounding thud and the sound of devirtualization.

"Jamie, I'm sorry. It had to be done." Jamie just looks at me, not crying at all. I think she's all cried out for now. She just nods slowly, looking as though she doesn't believe it. She walks up to me and gently touches my shoulder. I yell out in pain again, jolting away.

"You're hurt." She says.

"I'll be fine." I say through gritted teeth.

"No, you won't. You're about to pass out, I can tell."

"No, don't worry about me." I say, even though I know she's right. I can't move, let alone make it to the castle.

"No. You're going back to the real world," She says, not even giving me a choice.

"No. I'm fine. There is absolutely no reason for me to go back." I say loudly, glaring at Jamie.

She glares right back at me. We sit there silently, glaring at each other, each refusing to back down.

After a while, she sighs, obviously conceding defeat for the time being.

"Come on, we have to get to the castle, meet up with the others." Aelita says, and we all begin walking again. After about ten minutes of walking, we arrive at a large moat surrounding the castle. It's filled with water.

"That's okay, we can just swim across…" I say. I prepare to jump in, but Jamie puts her hand to my chest, holding me back.

"You're hurt. You can't swim with only one arm." She says quietly but firmly. I have no choice but to agree with her. I'm amazed I made it walking to the castle without passing out.

"I guess we don't have much of a choice now except to try and find the others." I say, getting nods from the others. We walk along the edge of the moat, trying to find a way across, when we hear yelling.

I look to my left to see everyone else down the street.

"Ulrich, look out!" Yumi yells, pointing behind Ulrich.

Ulrich steps nimbly to the left, avoiding the sword from the man. This guy is different than the ones we fought. He's wearing armor, much like Ulrich's, but he's also wearing a samurai-like mask covering his face.

Ulrich unsheathes his sword and prepares to fight, but he obviously doesn't know that wounds in this sector are real. With unspoken consent, Aelita, Jamie and I all begin to run towards him.

Ulrich begins to fight, as the others look on helplessly.

"Ulrich! Don't kill him!" I yell out. Unfortunately, my word of warning distracts Ulrich, and he gets struck in the leg. He yells out in pain as blood runs down his leg, bringing him down to one knee. The stranger pulls up his sword and swings down, as Ulrich looks on helplessly.

Just before it makes contact though, something goes whizzing by my head and hits the samurai in the side. He immediately freezes over with ice, stopping him in his tracks. I whip around to see Jamie with her bow still in hand, looking relieved.

Ulrich gets up and is immediately mauled by Yumi, who noticed he got hurt, while we walk over to them.

"Macas, what happened to you?" Odd exclaims, drawing unwanted attention towards me. I just sigh and decide to get it over with.

"I'm assuming you've already figured out that the wounds in this sector become real. I had a fight, and it hurt." I say, still holding tightly onto my wounded arm.

"We've got to find some way to get you back. Look at you, you have a massive gouge in your shoulder, your whole shirt is soaked with blood, and it looks like you can barely stand up." Karyssa says, walking over to me. She gently touches my wound, and I scream in pain.

"I'll… be… fine…" I say through gritted teeth.

"No, you won't. We're going to figure out a way to get you back." She says.

"We've got to take care of this guy first." I say, avoiding looking at her.

"Don't worry, we have time to figure out a way to get rid of him without killing him. He's stuck in there. Right now, we have more pressing matters, like you." Yumi says, joining Karyssa in her obvious war against me.

As if fate itself heard us, the ice around the samurai begins to crack.

* * *

**I'm going to attempt to get on again sometime soon so I can post another chapter. So byes for now everybody!**


	24. Possible solution?

**I'M SO SORRY TO EVERYONE!!!! I should have been able to update this FOREVER ago, but I got grounded off the computer for like 3 weeks! I was going to post last week, but with Christmas and everything... I just didn't get around to it.**

**I super-duper apologize to absolutely everybody. I promise the next chapter will be up before the end of the week as compensation.**

**For anyone who might possibly care, I have uploaded a picture that I drew onto my profile. Near the bottom. The one that says Macas.**

**Now, on with the story!**

* * *

(Jamie P.O.V.) 

The samurai begins to break out of his ice prison, slowly spelling out doom for us all. I don't know if any of us, now knowing what the consequences is, can stand to kill him, human or not.

I see Macas pull out his sword, preparing to do what he feels must be done. But it can't be what has to happen. I won't let it. Virtual or not, killing something this real… is too real. I've always been a little squeamish about blood, but seeing the blood pouring from his stomach… was too much.

I don't consider myself to be weak. I'm not emotional, my fears and emotions don't control me. But when something like that happens… all my mental barriers break loose. And I know it's probably just a silly high school crush, but when Macas held me tight, when I grabbed his hands… it just felt right. And the fact that he sacrificed himself, just seems too romantic to be real.

I walk over to Macas and wrap my arms around him, forcing his arm and his sword down. I feel down towards his hand and flip off the switch, retracting the bright beam of energy.

"No." I say softly. He sighs, then winces because of the pain in his shoulder.

"We have to do something. We can't just let him slaughter us." He says as the samurai breaks out of the upper portion of his ice cage.

"He won't." I say softly, not really believing it myself. As much as I hate to say it, Macas may be right. The only way to survive this harsh world may be to do what we must. To survive we must kill…

I cry softly into his already blood-soaked shirt. He hugs me tightly, and I move upward slightly. Some of my tears fall down onto his neck, sliding slowly downward. They touch his open wound, and I expect him to cry out in pain again.

Instead, my tears glow green, illuminating themselves brightly. Instantly, Macas' wound heals itself, the skin melting together flawlessly.

I back away in disbelief until I remember something.

_I have the power of healing…_

"Jamie… you healed me…" Macas says, inspecting his shoulder in awe. "I totally forgot about that…" He says, moving his shoulder up and down. Immediately, I turn around and walk over to Ulrich, who is using Yumi as a crutch to stand up on his hurt leg.

I touch his leg gently, just above the wound, and my hand glows green. Instantly, Ulrich's skin melds itself back together, just as Macas' had.

_That gives me an idea…_

"Ulrich, Macas, can you restrain him?" I ask, "Not kill him, just hold him tight so he can't move." They both nod and walk up to the samurai, who had just managed to break out of the last little bit of ice holding his feet in place. They jump forward and grab him before he moves away.

He struggles immensely, but they hold him tightly, and force him to drop his sword. His sword is almost identical to Ulrich's. You'd think Xana could have some more creativity than that.

I walk up to him and put my hand to his chest, he still struggles, but he's not going anywhere. I concentrate, and my hand glows green again.

"What're you doing? You're healing him!" Yumi says, wonder obvious in her voice.

"No, I'm not. I'm draining his life points, like I did the guardian." I say, and everyone's eyes suddenly bulge out.

"That's an awesome idea! That way, we won't kill them, they'll just devirtualize!" Aelita says, her excitement obviously showing that she didn't like the killing any more than I did.

After a few moments, the samurai goes still, he looks like he's lost all of his energy. I, on the other hand, feel supercharged, ready to run a mile. A couple seconds later, and his body transforms into wireframe before disappearing.

I sit on the ground, relieved.

"Sorry Jamie, but we can't stop now. Jeremie isn't responding, which means either he lost the connection or Xana cut him off." Macas says. He offers his hand and I grab it. He pulls me to my feet and I sigh.

"So now what?" He points towards the castle.

"Xana is in there. His actual virtual being. If we can get in there, we can kill him. We can end this, once and for all." He says gravely.

"But what if we can't…" I begin to say, but he cuts me off.

"No pessimism. We **can** kill him, and we will." He says, embracing me in a hug, and cutting off all room for argument. I embrace him back, welcome for the chance to be in his arms. After all, that's why I ditched my friends to come to this school, right?

"Now what?" Ulrich asks.

"Only one thing to do." Odd replies.

"Kill Xana." Yumi finishes.

* * *

(Ulrich P.O.V.) 

We walk towards the castle, but we're hindered by the moat. We came to the conclusion that we could probably swim across it easily… but we're kind of wary of water because of our close encounters with the digital sea. We're not going to take any chances.

We walk around the outside of the moat, looking for any way to possibly cross to the other side. Eventually we come to what must be the main entrance of the castle. There's a large wooden drawbridge which has been pulled up to cover a spacious entrance. There's a chain near the top, holding the bridge in place, one on each side.

"Anyone see a way to lower it? A lever, a switch, something?" Yumi asks, looking around.

"There might be one nearby, like the one in sector five." I say, peering across to see if there's anything there. Unfortunately, I see nothing.

"… I have an idea." I hear Jamie say quietly behind me. I turn around with everyone else to see her pull an arrow out of her quiver and notch it onto her bow.

"Hey, burning down the door isn't going to help us get across." I say, stretching out my hand and lowering her bow. She smiles at me.  
"Ulrich, does this look like a fire arrow to you?" She says, and I look down to see she's notched her basic arrow.

"Oh… what're you going to do?"

"Just watch." She raises her bow back up and takes careful aim. She lets it loose, and it flies near the top of the bridge. It strikes the chain that's used to lower it, and the chain snaps. The door creaks and begins to fall.

"Everybody stand back!" Macas says, pushing everyone backwards, away from the door's path. The drawbridge doesn't make it far though, the other chain manages to stop it. Jamie quickly pulls out another arrow and shoots the other chain, and the bridge falls freely. It falls across the moat, landing with a resounding CRASH on the other side.

"Nice job Jamie." I say, smiling at her as we walk across the bridge and into the castle.

We find ourselves in a huge spacious room, at least as large as a football field. Large tall windows on both sides look to the city, although they're nearly covered by large red drapes. White marble pillars that stretch at least fifty feet to the ceilings line a long red carpeted path that stretches the length of the room. There's many, many tables on both sides of the pillars, bedecked with fine chairs and already set with gleaming white china. At the other end of the room is large gleaming white steps, leading up into another corridor.

We walk along in the eerie silent room. It's high ceiling and pillars makes us feel like we're in a church of some kind, and our footsteps are making loud noises despite the carpet rug set down. We walk calmly to the other side of the room, and begin climbing the steps.

"Watch out!" I hear Karyssa yell, and I swivel around to see that two warriors, clad in black, have landed behind us and are approaching fast. They're garbed as samurai, similar to me, with deadly black katanas.

A guy jumps at me, sword raised. I jump forward and spin around in a backwards roundhouse kick, sending him flying. Macas obviously has a vision of the other guy attacking him, and dodges out of the way, grabbing him by his shirt and swinging him around with his own momentum. He lets go, and the second samurai goes flying back down the steps, landing with a thud.

"Everyone keep going. I'll handle these guys." I say, drawing my silvery-blue sword from it's sheath. I hear a click and a humming sound, and see Macas stand by my side.

"Not alone you won't." He says.

"You should go with them. I can handle them." I say defiantly.

"Maybe so. But they really don't need me."

"Come on guys, let's go." Odd says, and I hear everyone else take off running down the corridor.

"Go Macas!" I yell at him, but he shakes his head.

"Not on your life." He says. I shake my head, but decide to let it go. There's obviously nothing I can do to persuade him otherwise. He stands by my side as the two samurai get up and regroup at the bottom of the stairs. I see Macas drop low into his ready position. Right foot forward, left back. Left knee bent, right knee locked in place. His right hand is in front of him, holding his sword out in front of him horizontally, his left hand behind him, straight out and balancing him. An unorthodox method, but I guess it works.

I drop into my own ready position, one which I've trained in for years doing Penchak Silat. Right foot forward, left back, both knees slightly bent. My sword is held vertically in front of me by my right hand, while my left hand rests near my knee.

The samurai look at us, then at each other. They look back at us and have obviously decided to make the first move, for they charge up the steps toward us.

"Hey Ulrich?" Macas asks me, quickly.

"Yeah?"

"You realize that to win this, you're going to have to kill him, right?" He asks, just a mere second before the guy is to reach us.

"Yeah… I know."

* * *

**Sorry for the cliffie. Had to end it there. But it'll be okay, cause I'll put up another chapter and finish it soon. Until then, please review. Happy New Years everybody!**


	25. Death By Sword

**Sorry to everyone. I meant to get this up on Saturday, but I totally forgot. Either way, this is up now. So it's all good, right?**

* * *

(Macas P.O.V.) 

The fight between us and the samurais has been going for too long. Neither of us has made any headway against them, and I've been hit a couple of times. My arms are beginning to get tired, along with my calves. I look over to see Ulrich doesn't seem to be hurt at all, but he doesn't seem to be fighting with the vigor I see normally. He isn't striking back, merely blocking or parrying every attempt to kill him.

Unfortunately, that glimpse at Ulrich nearly cost me my life. I have to duck way too far to avoid the next attempt to decapitate me, and I can't maintain my balance at such an odd angle. I crash to the floor, leaving me open for a killing blow from my adversary.

In my peripheral vision, I see both Ulrich and his assailant stop for a brief second to look at me. The samurai above me brings his sword up, so I attempt to bring up my own sword to block. He stomps down on my wrist, preventing me from raising it any further, and swings his sword up again for more power.

"SUPERSPRINT!" Ulrich yells, and a flash of yellow light appears in front of me. Ulrich didn't bother to attack him, no, he just rammed his shoulder as hard as he could into the other samurai, sending him sprawling to the floor and leaving his ally looking stupefied. He isn't stupefied for long though, and he jumps towards me. I raise my feet up to meet his chest and flip him overtop of me, sending him crashing into his just barely standing teammate and they both go crashing to the floor again.

"Ulrich, what's up?" I ask as he helps me to my feet. "You aren't fighting to your full potential!" He looks at me for a second before answering.

"I can't kill. I can't murder these people."

"Ulrich, I don't mean to be rude, but snap out of it! These aren't people with actual lives, they're just basic AI programs created by Xana to kill us! You need to do what…" But I have to stop in mid-sentence for a vision enters my head of the samurai launching at me ferociously, leaving himself open for attack.

_Screw it, I'm ending this!_

I crouch down as the samurai jumps, and jump towards him just afterwards. He's surprised by my movement, and leaves himself completely open. I don't even hesitate to bury my sword into his stomach as we collide in midair. When we hit the ground, I keep a good hold of my sword and it comes free as my momentum throws me off of him. He's been devirtualized by the time I get up.

Ulrich looks at where he was, a glazed look upon his face. I see the other samurai take advantage of his distraction and leap at him.

* * *

(Ulrich P.O.V.) 

I stare at the spot where the guy was, where there's still a little blood remaining. I don't like the idea of killing. I absolutely loathe the idea that I have the power to take away someone else's life. Monsters on Lyoko is one thing. They're mechanical, they have no lives. But a living, breathing person, just like me? I can't do it.

"Ulrich!" I hear Macas yell at me, and I whirl around to see the guy in mid-leap towards me. Not even thinking, I raise my sword up to stop him.

It buries itself in his stomach.

He still lands on top of me, and we go tumbling down the steps. When we hit the bottom, he stops but I keep rolling. When I finally stop, I get up and look at him.

The first person I have ever killed.

My sword is still embedded in his stomach, and blood is flowing freely onto the floor. I can't move, not even to look away. Macas walks down the steps, puts one foot on the guy's chest as leverage and uses it to yank my sword out. Only then does he vanish into wireframe and disappear.

* * *

(Back to Macas P.O.V.) 

I see Ulrich look up and stare at the guy on the floor, but he looks as though he's staring at a maggot-infested rotting pile of filth. I don't like it, I hate bloodshed myself. But I force myself to do what has to be done.

I walk down the steps, place my foot on the guy's chest and pull out Ulrich's sword. The second samurai turns into wireframe and disappears beneath me, leaving a small puddle of blood. I use my already blood-stained shirt to wipe Ulrich's blade clean and walk over to him. He has looked away, but he's still on his hands and knees and looks like he wants to vomit. I kneel down next to him and place a comforting hand on his back.

"Ulrich, you okay?" I ask, but he doesn't respond. He just stares at a spot underneath him intently.

"Come on Ulrich. Let's go catch up to the others." I say, grabbing him by the shoulders and hoisting him to his feet. I place his katana back in it's sheath and my arm around his shoulders, helping him stand. We begin to walk, slowly but surely up the stairs and into the corridor.

The corridor is furnished similar to the entrance hall: gleaming white marble and a red rug down the middle. At the end, there's a large mirror, and two doors on either side. We walk down to the end and look at both the doors, wondering which one they went through. I open the door on the left, and see that it leads down a dark staircase. It's pitch black down there, so I can't see a thing. I close the door and open the one on the right. This one leads down a brightly lit hallway.

"You think they would take this one?" I ask Ulrich, who has found the strength to stand by himself again.

"Odd's afraid of the dark. He doesn't mind it when there's some light source, but he won't go where it's pitch black." He says. Nodding in understanding, I walk down the hallway to the right, Ulrich right behind me. At the end of this hallway is a solitary door, painted red. The hallway is illuminated by several lights, but I'm not sure what they are. They don't seem to be lightbulbs, but it definitely isn't flame. Large cylindrical fixtures are attached near the top of an 8 foot ceiling, about every five feet in the hallway. One nearby is cracked and not working, throwing a small section of the hall into shadow. Looking closer, there's a small burn mark near the crack and extending outward, as though a flame has erupted from the crack.

"I wonder what happened there?" I say, looking at Ulrich. Ulrich peers at it for a second, then blinks twice.

"Odd was here. He probably wondered how they worked, so he shot one. Not the smartest idea, but it does sound like Odd."

"You've got a point there." We reach the door, and find it locked.

"Back up." Ulrich says, and I do so with haste. He charges at the door, and lands a good flying kick into it. The door bulges outward, but doesn't break.

"No way… I put everything I had into that kick." He says. Suddenly we both hear a scream from the other side, and we both tense up.

I step in front of Ulrich, pushing him out of the way slightly. I pull out my sword and ignite it, it's red glare matching the door perfectly. I quickly slice from the upper frame down to the floor, separating the hinged part from the rest of the door. I scoot to the side in time to watch Ulrich kick the door again, and it flies open.

We rush in, both swords ready, to reveal a horrible sight.

Odd is lying face-up on the ground, blood soaking through his purple shirt.

* * *

(Yumi P.O.V.)

We rushed through the hallway, even though my heart is being wrenched out as I do. I'm leaving the love of my life behind to fight someone… to possibly kill someone. Or to be killed.

I reach the end first, and see that we only have two options. Two doors, one on my right and one on my left. As I turn to the one on the right, Odd turns to the one on the left. We both open them at the same time. Mine opens to reveal a brightly lit hallway, with a deep red door at the end. Nothing too special. I turn around to hear a door slam, and Odd slumped against the wall.

"Odd? What's in there?" I ask nervously.

"Nothing… it's dark… I can't see anything…" He says, slightly short of breath, and he looks like he's trying to keep his fear under control.

"Odd? Are you okay?" Aelita asks, putting a hand on his shoulder. He shakes his head and stands up a little straighter.

"Yeah… I'm fine… I just… don't like darkness." He says, somewhat timidly. This being the first I've ever heard of this, I nod my head slowly.

"Then you'll be fine. I think we should go through this hallway." I say, and open the door wider for them to see. I wince as a hear a loud clanging sound coming from the hallway we just came from, signaling that Ulrich was fighting with one of the samurai.

"Sounds good to me." Odd says, regaining his normal composure. He dashes through the opening and into the hallway, everyone follows suit. We ran for only about 30 feet when Odd stops suddenly and I almost run into him trying to stop in time. Unfortunately, Aelita, who was behind me, didn't manage to stop in time and crashes into me. I then process to topple down onto Odd and bring him down with me, leaving us all in a tangled heap. Karyssa and Jamie laugh behind us while we try to untangle ourselves and regain our composure.

After I finally manage to get up, I whirl around at Odd.

"Odd! Why did you stop?" He looks dumbfounded for a second, but he just smiles.

"I was going to ask what you thought those were." He says, pointing at the strange light fixtures. I slap my forehead, as does everyone else at nearly the same time.

"Odd, don't do that! We're all too antsy in here as it is, and we don't need to be scared like that." I say reprimandingly, although I do have to restrain a smile at that. It's amazing how Odd can always manage to lighten the situation, no matter what it is.

"Well, do you know what it is?" He asks innocently.

"Who cares?"

"I do."

"Looks like an ordinary light bulb to me." Jamie says.

"A light bulb? In a medieval castle?" Odd says skeptically.

"Well? What else do you have in mind?"

"I don't know. But I'm going to find out."

"How?"

"Like this." He says, and points his fist up at the fixture and fires a single arrow. An explosion erupts from the light source when he hits it, scorching the wall.

"Woah. That was weird." Jamie says.

"Yeah. Wonder what made it do that."

"Who cares! Sorry to be a party pooper, but we need to keep going." Odd sighs and turns around. He begins walking silently, and everyone else follows him.

When we reach the red door, I reach for the handle and twist. The door opens on smoothly oiled hinges to reveal a room, modeled after a martial arts style practice room. Mats cover the floor, and four square pillars are on each side. We walk inside and see the door on the other end, heading for it.

"There's someone above us!" Karyssa yells suddenly. I don't know how she knows all this, but I look up to see she's right. There's a black cat-warrior, almost identical to Odd, hanging from the ceiling by his claws. He releases and falls down, aiming for Krys.

* * *

**Yeah... in case you didn't figure it out, the part where it switches to Yumi's point of view is right after the fight started in the last chapter. Just to clear that up.**

**So anyways. For some reason, I got reviews on the last chapter, but I never got an email. (shrugs) I dunno. It's weird. I felt all sad cause I didn't think anybody reviewed.**

**Reviews are awesome, they are like an author's best friend. The more reviews the merrier, right?**


	26. Catfight

**Yup. Here we go again. The next chapter for Stars in the Night. For anyone who maybe didn't notice, I changed the rating to M for this, just because of the violence. I probably should have done it last chapter too, cause that was fairly graphic as well, but I guess it's all good now anyways.**

**Anyways... I think fanfiction kind of spazzed earlier this week, because I didn't get any alerts for new chapters in my inbox. And I had two reviews for the last chapter, but I didn't get an alert saying I did, which was weird. So go back and look at the last chapter to make sure you read it, because if you don't, this one won't make much sense.**

**So anyway, here we go. And yeah, this chapter is definitely action packed.**

* * *

(Odd P.O.V.) 

I see the black cat-warrior drop down, aiming for Krys, and before I know it, I'm in the air too. I nail him hard, and we both go tumbling to the side, avoiding all the others. I manage to get my feet squarely on his chest and I push off, sending him flying off me and across the room. I jump to my feet in time to see him do a backflip in midair and land on his feet. I stare at him daring him to bring it on.

He looks almost identical to me, except instead of purple he's wearing different shades of black. One noticeable difference is that he doesn't have my trademark hair. He's wearing a mask that covers half his face, like a Batman mask except it's a cat. His shoes are also spiked, and not just on the bottom, they curve out in multiple directions, making his kicks deadly. His paws are also less fuzzy-looking, less kitty-cat like. Instead, they're long and sharp, like the claws you would find on a dragon. The last real difference between me and him is Xana's symbol is blazing in bright red on his chest.

I slowly sidestep, as does he onto the mat and past my friends. They quickly clear the mat, leaving me to fight on my own.

"Be careful Odd!" Krys says.

"Don't worry. I have this imposter. He's mine." I say menacingly, more towards the new adversary than to Krys. I see him quickly throw his arm up towards me, fist clenched.

If he looks like me… he probably has laser arrows too! 

Using my cat reflexes, I quickly launch myself to my right, throwing my feet over my head and sending me into a spinning one-handed cartwheel. Using my free hand, I quickly launch at least five arrows towards him. He jumps towards his right too, dodging my arrows by a wide margin. I land on my feet and begin running in a circular motion, as does he, both of us unleashing arrows, trying to hit the other.

Eventually this sends us into the most complex series of motions I've ever gone through. It's like the Matrix on steroids, combining firepower and martial arts into one. Eventually I end up clinging to one of the square pillars, and the black cat is on the one opposite me. I launch myself towards him at the same time he does, and we collide in midair. We scratch and kick, but neither of us and get our paws in a good position to fire. We land on the ground, and I roll into a backwards summersault, getting up before he can. Before he has the chance to retaliate, I bury my knee into his gut. The force of it, and partially of his own free will, knocks him backwards. He lands on his back and uses his feet to roll into his own backwards summersault, kicking my extended leg backwards and forcing me to the ground. He gets up and I kick his feet out from underneath him. We both get up away from each other, eyes never leaving one another.

He looks towards me and raises his arms into the air. He fires one, two, three shots, right left right. Then he lowers his fist to the ground and tries to fire again with his right fist, but all he gets is a clicking sound, showing that he's run out of arrows. He looks up at me expectantly.

_He wants a fist fight. No weapons but our own claws… well, I guess he'll get one._

I raise my own hands and empty out the last few arrows I had remaining. Then I drop into a low fighting stance, one I've never used before, but I feel it will give me an advantage over this quick opponent. He then proceeds to get in his own fighting stance. But I can't help but feel that something isn't right. I push it to the back of my mind, ignoring it for now. This isn't the time for thinking. Only fighting.

He doesn't make a move, and neither do I. All sound seems to stop, not a noise is heard leaving complete and total silence.

Eventually, I decide that we're getting nowhere by looking at each other, so I extend one hand and beckon him forward, it's an obvious taunt to boot. He charges at me, but as soon as I prepare my counterattack, he stops. But I had already launched myself forward, so I couldn't stop myself. The way I had positioned myself has now become my disadvantage. All my energy was being thrown upwards, and I had no way to stop it. As I begin my leap, he drops down low and throws his foot around, sweeping my feet out from under me and I go tumbling down. He gets up and I do another backwards summersault to bring myself to my feet.

As soon as I do, an excruciating pain explodes in my body, originating from my stomach. Something impacted me as well, throwing me backwards onto my back. I look down to see my purple shirt is beginning to turn red… with my own blood.

At that time, about ten billion sounds reached my ears all at the same time. But one sound pierces through them all. Krys screaming.

It's then that I realize that he cheated. That he had fooled me into believing he had run out of arrows. But no, he didn't. When he tricked me, he had fired three shots into the air. Two from his right, and one from his left. He then showed me that he had no more in his right arm by attempting to fire again but nothing happening. He never showed me he was out in his left hand.

Then I hear a burning sound, then a second later, the sound of the door crashing inwards. Ulrich and Macas burst through.

"Odd!" Ulrich yells. I see him and force myself to stand up and get to my feet. As I examine myself more, I see that the shot was poorly aimed, and hit me in the left side, it came close to not hitting me at all. If I'm lucky, he didn't hit any vital organs. I see the black cat-warrior look at me furiously, then at Ulrich, then back at me. Being on the other side of the mat, he runs towards me, prepared to take me out for good. I barely had the strength to stand, let alone fight.

"Odd! Catch!" Ulrich yells, and I look over to see his katana flying through the air towards me. I spin and grab it, finishing my spin by bringing the sword around to my front side, where it hits slices into the cat-warrior's side.

Ulrich's sword hit him in the ribs, but the force of my momentum takes it further. It slices into his chest and out through his shoulder, cleanly slicing through his torso and separating him in two. I'm splattered with his blood as the two halves of him fall down, hitting the ground once before turning into wireframe and vanishing.

I look back over to Ulrich and attempt to smile.

"Hey thanks Ulrich. You got… a pretty… nice sword here…" I manage to choke out before I lose it. I fall to my knees, Ulrich's katana clattering down at my side. I look towards the ceiling as I desperately try to stop the tears that are already dripping down my cheeks.

Immediately everyone is upon me, trying desperately to calm me down.

"Odd… I'm sorry, but I need to heal you. You're badly hurt." Jamie says, as she carefully lies on my back as she presses her hands to my wound. I yelp out in pain as she touches it, but soon the pain goes away as my wound is healed.

"Th-thanks Jamie…" I manage to mumble out, and she nods at me. I'm trying to think, but only one phrase keeps repeating in my thoughts, over and over again.

_I killed him… I killed him… I killed him…_

This is different than destroying monsters on Lyoko. They just explode when you hit them. You never see any residue, any mark that they were ever there. I look down at my blood spattered shirt, and half of it isn't my own.

I try to stand up. I manage to get to my feet before my knees collapse underneath me. I fall down, but before even my knees hit the floor, I'm caught by multiple arms. I look around to see everyone had dived in to try and catch me. Krys was closest, she caught me underneath my shoulders, Ulrich on my left and Yumi on my right.

The next thing I know, I'm sobbing into Krys' shoulder.

* * *

(Ulrich P.O.V.) 

Odd is kneeling, arms thrown around Krys and head buried in her shoulder. She's stroking his back soothingly, and I realize what a cute pair they are.

I know it's not exactly the most appropriate time to be thinking this, but it's true. Odd seems smitten by Krys, and Krys can't seem to be without Odd. I look over at Macas, and he's standing, staring distantly off into space. I notice his fist is clenched, but he notices my gaze.

He shakes his head slightly, smiling slightly. I look at him strangely, but he just mouths the words 'brotherly instinct' to me. I smile back, and look back to Odd. My katana is still on the floor next to him, dripping a little bit of blood. I shudder and pick it up, using my shirt to wipe it off. When it's sufficiently clean, I sheathe it again.

I walk over to the opposite side, and sit down, head in my hands. Yumi follows me and sits next to me, lying her head on my shoulder. Immediately, I put my arm around her waist and bring her closer to me.

Macas, Jamie, and Aelita follow suit, leaving Krys to comfort Odd in her own way.

* * *

**Heh. I just found out that you can customize the line's length and width. See that right above me? That's a line! I didn't know that! It's amazing what you can learn by accident, isn't it?**

**Anyways, thanks for reading!**


	27. A Quick Reprieve

**Yes, I'm back, so everybody run for your life!! (laughs manically)**

**The last chapter was pretty intense, so this one lightens up a bit. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

(Krys P.O.V.) 

I hold Odd, gently rubbing his back to help soothe him. I see Ulrich leave us alone, and the others soon follow. Odd is still crying hard, so I hold on to him tight and start rocking him gently back and forth. After a couple minutes, he stops crying and just hugs me tight.

"Are you going to be okay Odd?" I ask quietly. He nods slightly and I stroke his hair lovingly.

Suddenly, without any warning, I slip back into my other state. The one where I can remember things because I am around Odd. It's the oddest sensation to remember that you can't remember anything. And it's unnerving that no matter what I'm doing at the moment, eventually I will forget it. In fact… it's downright horrifying.

A feel a tear roll down my cheek before I can stop it. I drips off my chin and onto Odd's neck, and he looks up.

"Krys… why are you crying?" He asks. His tears have stopped, and he's returned to normal. Well, as normal as Odd can be.

"Because… I can remember… again." I say, trying hard to keep my voice from wavering. He looks at me strangely. I look at him, our eyes meeting.

As I stare into his eyes, I realize that because of my memory loss, I've acted extremely naive. I don't blame myself, but I don't like it. I figure that now it's time for me to act my age, because I know I can. It's time to show my maturity.

As I think about Odd, and how he's helped me recently, the same unsettling sensation returns to my chest. It's not a bad sensation. No, it's not bad at all. It's definitely a good one. In fact, it's the best I've ever felt. All the things I've done before, my accomplishments, all the happiness… is nothing compared to this. I look at Odd, and he's staring distantly into space. I feel a burning inside me, a deep desire to stay with him.

It takes a few moments of intense thought, but I think I may have realized what this feeling is.

_I think I love Odd._

The more I think about it, the more it feels right.

I'm in love with Odd Della Robbia. He's the most kind, gentle, funny… sweetest person I have ever met.

I close my eyes and smile, reveling in the sensation. Then a thought comes into my head.

"Hey Odd…?" He instantly snaps his head up to look at me.

"Hm?"

"I never said thank you for saving me earlier. From that black cat-warrior." He smiles sheepishly.

"It was nothing." He says. I just shake my head.

"I still haven't said thanks." He looks at me strangely.

"Wha-?" He begins to ask, but I put my finger to his lips and he shuts up instantly. I lean in and kiss him, a quick peck on the lips.

"Thank you." I breathe softly, returning to my previous position.

Odd looks at me totally dumbfounded. I can almost see him thinking furiously of something to say. I smile slyly at him, and his eyes go wide. Then he smiles back.

He quickly leans forward, almost a leap towards me and knocks me down to the ground, kissing me with such passion I thought he might explode. Before I can gather my scattered thoughts together and kiss him back, he pulls back and resumes his normal position. I sit back up and stare at him with wide eyes. I was definitely not expecting that.

"You're welcome." He says with a smirk.

Somehow, something inside me snaps. Maybe it's the just the heat of the moment. It definitely has something to do with that sexy smirk he's wearing. Most likely it's that kiss that made me totally lose my head. But I lose all self control at that point. Just the way he's sitting there makes me want to totally maul him.

So I do.

I launch myself at him, toppling him over and pinning him to the ground. I waste absolutely no time in kissing him like there's no tomorrow, which he eagerly returns. He flips me over so he's on top of me and we resume. He pulls away and looks at me. I return the gaze, staring into his eyes. He may act stupid, but his eyes give him away, showing kindness and intelligence beyond what anyone can imagine coming from Odd.

"I love you." I whisper, and I hear him whisper the exact same thing to me simultaneously. We both smile and he kisses me softly again. He pulls me up so we're both in a… semi-sitting position.

"Karyssa, will you go out with me?" He asks quietly, still staring into my eyes. I smile a huge smile, feeling the best joy I have felt in a long time.

"Of course." I say, and he kisses me again.

Suddenly, I feel myself being pulled apart from Odd by some unforeseen force. I open my eyes to find that Odd is glowing a pink-ish color, and look down to find that I am too. My eyes open wide as we're forced apart, and we both fly about ten feet apart and hover about five feet off the ground, neither of us touching.

I begin to panic when I hear laughter. I look over to where the rest of the group is and see them all laughing, and Yumi is glowing pink too.

"Yumi! Put us down!" Odd yells. "Telekinesis is no fair!" Yumi smiles and her pink aura fades. Suddenly, the invisible force that was keeping us up is gone, and we both tumble to the ground. I can't help but laugh myself as I realize how awkward that must've looked. I see Yumi give Macas a high five, and realize he must've been the one to ask her to do it.

I pretend to pout, but honestly there's no way I can be sad right now. I'm no longer single.

"Break it up you two. Save that for home!" Ulrich says laughing.

"Eew! I don't want to think about that!" Yumi adds, laughing as well.

* * *

(Macas P.O.V.) 

We're sitting on the floor, laughing at Odd and Krys. I still feel the urge to take Odd and ring his neck because he's touching my little sister, but I ignore it. Brotherly instinct really does suck some times. A thought enters my mind, so I stand up. I plan to go congratulate Odd on his accomplishment, patting him on the back, but I never get that far.

In the space of maybe a second, three things happen.

I have the feeling where someone is watching me, so I immediately tense up.

"We're not alone!" Krys yells, and everyone starts in surprise. And last, I get a vision.

We are indeed not alone, another warrior from Xana has entered. It's a female, wearing skin-tight red pants, a tight red shirt, and two straps of yellow cloth which attach to her belt in front, go over her shoulders and re-attach in back. Wearing no sleeves, but bright yellow gloves, there's something about her hands that I would have never expected on Lyoko.

They're flaming. I watch as she hurls a ball of fire from her hand towards the vulnerable Ulrich and Yumi.

My vision ending, I immediately spring into action. Having no time to attempt to draw my sword and block, I dive in front of Ulrich, taking the full brunt of the blast on my back.

I realize quickly that the fireball isn't intended to burn, it's intended to do serious impact. It hits my back, near my left shoulder and sends me spinning. The force that it hits me with is enormous, it actually sends me flying over top of Ulrich, spinning around insanely fast.

I'm amazed at just how much force that little flaming ball exerted on my body. It feels like I just got hit by a cannonball. I literally go flying across the room and hit the wall with a thud.

Everything is spinning, I'm dazed and confused, I can't think at all. My vision is blurry and distorted, and it sounds like everyone is speaking Latin backwards.

Another vision appears in my head, and luckily it hasn't been put in the blender on puree like the rest of my vision has. The female warrior throws another fireball at Ulrich, who deflects it with his sword. Unfortunately he doesn't realize that he deflected it straight towards me.

* * *

**Sorry, but as much as I loved the fluffiness between Odd and Karyssa, it doesn't advance the plot much, and I had to keep going. Yes, it is a pretty evil cliffie, but meh, you'll get over it. The next chapter should be up soon.**


	28. Meeting the Demon

**Hello again!**

**I apologize for the very long wait. It's been quite a while, hasn't it?**

**I've had writer's block for a LONG time, and I just started getting back into the feel of writing maybe two weeks ago. And in that time, I've written this chapter, and the next few chapters after it!**

**So new chapters are gonna be coming quick this time.**

**You might want to go back and read the last chapter, just to refresh your memory. I know I had to.**

* * *

(Macas P.O.V.) 

I stagger to my feet as I hear the sharp clang which signals that the ball hit Ulrich's sword. I dive to the side and feel the ball explode against the wall. The force pushes me again, and I go skidding. I slide into a wall and hit it, head first. Within seconds, I'm out cold.

I gently wake up to notice that I'm lying down with my head in Jamie's lap. She's not looking at me, she's gently stroking my hair. I notice a shallow gash on her cheek, which is still dribbling blood. I move my head slightly, and Jamie looks down.

"Oh thank God, you're awake!" She exclaims, drawing me up to her and hugging me. She helps me slowly sit up, but when I reach sitting position I feel slightly nauseous, so I lay back down in her lap again.

"Wha… what happened?" I mumble out and she smiles faintly.

"You were hit by Lady Infernox's fireball. You passed out. I tried to heal you, but it drained too much of my life points."

"How did you…" I tried asking but my voice broke before I could finish.

"Beat her? Yumi did. A fan her in the back and sliced through her side. Nearly killed Ulrich in the process though."

"Lady… Infernox?" I ask, beginning to feel my strength return.

"Yeah, the crazy fire lady who knocked you out. She talked to us, the first one to do so. She told us that she was the last obstacle between us and Xana. And that it's pointless to continue because Xana is too powerful."

"She told you her name?"

"Yup. I tried to drain her life points like I had done with the samurai outside, but I couldn't get close enough." I raise up my hand and use my ring finger to softly brush the gash on her cheek. She winces in pain and I retract my hand.

"How did that happen?"

"She threw a fireball at Ulrich, who dodged it. It hit the wall and pieces of rock went flying everywhere. A sharp one grazed my cheek." I sit up with a little help from Jamie, and look around. It looks like there was a serious battle. Rubble is lying everywhere, and two of the four wooden columns have shattered, the pieces lying on the floor.

"Is anyone else hurt?" I ask, looking at the others. They're nearby, sitting in a circle and talking.

"Nothing serious. The only problem is that I'm out of extra life points. I have no more to spare. Which means I can't heal anyone." Suddenly Ulrich sits down on my left and Yumi on my right.

"Hey Macas. Feeling better?" Yumi asks.

"Yeah, a bit."

"Hey, we just wanted to say thanks for saving us." Ulrich adds.

"Yeah, we owe you one." Yumi says, giving me a light hug from the side.

"It was nothing." I say, smiling. The rest of the gang walks over and sits down.

"Okay guys. She was our last obstacle before Xana. It looks like this is it." Ulrich says.

"Yeah. We beat Xana here and we win." Odd adds.

"No turning back now." Yumi says.

"We're either all in or all out. Who's in?" Aelita asks, putting her hand in the middle. Ulrich immediately puts his hand on top of hers, then Yumi right after him. Odd follows suit, then Jamie, then Karyssa. I'm sitting there, staring at the pile of hands, when I get the sudden urge to stop. To not put my hand there. After all, if I don't, then we won't have to fight Xana. We'll have another chance…

_No! We're too close to turn back now!_

Everyone is looking at me, waiting for my response. I stare at the pile of hands, which is our symbol of unity. I may have only known these people for a few weeks, but they're already the best friends I have ever had. And I would never trade anything for that friendship. Not even death. I feel the nagging impulse to refuse, but I ignore it instead and put my hand on top of the others.

"I'm in." I say.

We all stand up and walk to the door on the other side of the room. I'm still kind of dizzy, but I have Ulrich supporting me on one side. By unspoken consent, we all agree that I am to be the one to open the door. If this really is the final battle, then I am the only chance we have against Xana.

I am the Chosen One. The one from the prophecy. I am the only one who is able to defeat this menace.

And for the first time, I realize I'm scared to death.

For some reason, I had always put stock in the prophecy, knowing that it is true. But I never really realized that it was **me** who was going to be the one to destroy Xana.

I had viewed it the entire time as though it was someone else. I felt disconnected, a bystander.

But now, I realize that it's different. I'm not a bystander. I'm not even just a part of the fight. It is me who the entire fight is centered around.

Me.

The Chosen One.

And I am afraid.

* * *

(Krys P.O.V.)

We walk over to the door, and everyone waits for Macas to open it. No one says anything, we just know. He stands there for a second merely staring at it.

He turns around and looks at us, his eyes lingering on each and every person. He comes to me last, and our eyes connect.

I give him the faintest of smiles, which he returns.

He turns around and grabs the handle, twisting swiftly and opening the door.

And it opens to the most magnificent room I have ever seen. This room could seriously fit the superbowl and have room to spare. And it's nearly empty. A stone room, lit by a huge fireplace taking up one entire side. The floor is a thick carpet, springy enough to cushion an impact but solid enough to run on. A long red carpet runs down the floor from the door to a gigantic black throne, carved out of what looks like pure black stone. Doors line the walls, leading to numerous rooms that we can't see.

"Welcome to the Castle of Lyoko." A large booming voice says from nowhere. We look towards the throne and see a man calmly step out from behind it's huge berth.

The man looks to be in about his mid-twenties, at least from this distance. He's dressed as a general, standing straight and military style. Although he looks young for a general, his stern expression shows experience in the battlefield far beyond his years.

An old-fashioned style green uniform adorns his torso, it buttons down the side and has one single badge with Xana's symbol. Dark slacks hang onto his legs, showing dark green combat boots on his feet.

But there's something odd about his face. It looks vaguely familiar, like I've seen it somewhere before. A stern male, with strong features. His hair and eyebrows are pitch black, it seems to suck in the light around it, unlike Yumi's hair which seems to radiate light. His hair is messy, sprawling every which way in that oddly familiar way.

He stares calmly at us, sizing us up before he speaks.

"Welcome!" He says, breaking into a pleasant smile. "I must congratulate you on getting this far. No one else has managed to do such a feat." He says calmly, his voice strong and sure, without a hint of doubt.

"No one else…?" Macas whispers. Although he's on the opposite end of the little group from me, I heard him loud and clear. My fox ears must've given me extremely sensitive hearing.

"We're the first, and we're going to be the last, Xana." Ulrich says, stepping forward. He moves one hand to his sword just in case, although he keeps it sheathed.

"Ah, very good Ulrich. All of the others thought I was just another foe to beat before the real challenge." Xana gives a short humorless laugh. "I didn't tell them that I was the real challenge, of course. That would have spoiled all the fun. So I let them try to breeze on by me like they had the others. Oh, I wish you could have seen their faces when they figured it out."

"What others?" Macas asks, stepping forward slightly. Xana looks at him, long and hard.

"Why, of course. You wouldn't know. You weren't there when the rest of the group met my latest monster creation. X4-269, or as they called it, the 'Jag.' I figured my creatures would destroy them, so I told them that they had lasted the longest. But of course, you weren't there. You were evacuating the school to keep the plane from killing anyone when it crashed."

"So… we're not the first?"

"Oh, no. Definitely not. You're actually the third group that has tried to kill me. And I must tell you that Lady Infernox was right. Attempting to kill me is suicide."

* * *

**Not bad, eh? I know I kind of skipped the whole fight, but I wanted to move on with the story. The next chapter will be up SOON, I promise! Soon, as in like, the next two days or so.**

**To all those who have come back, I say THANK YOU. I promise, updates will be coming faster now.**

**Read and review please!**


	29. First Fight vs Ulrich

**Hi again.**

**If you're reading this and thinking 'what's going on? I'm totally lost' then go back and look at chapter 28. I uploaded it a while ago, replacing the author's note I made. That's my mistake. Since all I did was replace, it didn't send out all the emails and stuff. So I guess no one got notified.**

**Or maybe I'm just insane. Who knows. Anyway. Check out the last chapter if you haven't read it yet. **

* * *

(Macas P.O.V.)

_There's others?_

My mind is still reeling from the fact that we aren't the first. That others have gone before us… that they might still be out there!

"Suicide or not, we're still going to be the last battle you will ever face." Ulrich says firmly, drawing me back from my thoughts. Xana looks at me firmly, as though reading my thoughts.

"I know that expression Macas. You're hopeful. You think there are others out there who can help you in your cause." My eyes go wide, unfortunately showing him that he's right.

"And I can say truthfully that there are not. They are all dead from one thing or another. Good thing I was able to take control of the time reversal sequence and make it seem as though they all died of natural causes." He looks at me with an evil smirk, showing for the first time that he is not just some gentleman. He is a cold, ruthless, heartless being. I close my eyes and try to mask my anger. Anger leads to rage, and rage clouds your thoughts and feelings.

"How many. How many were there?" Xana gives another humorless laugh.

"Why do you care? They're all dead."

"I still want to know."

"Two in the first group. A 16-year old computer savvy boy and his girlfriend. They weren't nearly skilled enough. Don't worry, I killed them off painlessly for their sakes." I flinch with this new knowledge.

"And the second?"

"Five. All of them between 23 and 25 year olds. They had been friends ever since elementary school. They put up a good fight, but not nearly good enough. They found sector five faster than you did though, and they went straight for the core of Lyoko. If they had managed to destroy it, it would have been lights out for me. But they didn't quite make it. Two of them died falling into the digital sea together, one in an attempt to save his girlfriend from my polymorphic specter, and the last one that I killed died from simple gas poisoning in the lab."

"That's only four. What happened to the fifth?"

"Ah, you're quick. I spared her. I figured seeing her boyfriend die in the attempt to save her would ruin her life, and I was right. She committed suicide a 27 days later, jumping off the bridge in front of the factory. She was the last to go, about three years before Jeremie discovered the lab."

"You've killed seven people? How could you do such a thing?!?" Aelita yells out, obviously frustrated.

"Yes I did. They stood in my way, so they needed to die. It was as simple as that."

"Calm down Aelita. We all know what Xana is capable of." Yumi says putting her arm in front of Aelita as if to protect her.

"You're going to die Xana. And we're going to make you feel pain for each individual life that you took." Ulrich says, drawing his sword. He holds it out in front of him, a plain challenge to Xana, who doesn't move an inch.

Well, actually, he does. He puts his hand up to his mouth and yawns.

"Oh, must we fight? Couldn't we solve this in a more rational way? After all, there's seven of you, and only one of me. I'm greatly outnumbered."

"You're fighting, Xana. Whether you want to or not." Xana gives an exasperated sigh.

"Oh fine, if we must. But I make the rules here." Xana says with a smirk. "First, it will be a one-on-one battle. I will fight each of you in turn, using your weapon of choice, except dear Aelita and Karyssa, of course. And it will be on my turf." We all look at each other and nod.

"Deal."

"Then let the games begin."

* * *

In the blink of an eye, we've been teleported to a large, open room. Not as big as the last one, but still large enough to have plenty of room for whatever we want to do. No windows, no doors, the walls are all solid white. The room is brightly lit, although there's no visible source of light.

"Alright then. Who shall go first?" Xana asks, looking bored.

"I will." Ulrich says, stepping forward.

"Very well." The entire room seems to shimmer brightly, and the white walls become distorted. They take on color, and inexplicably, form, as they glow brighter and brighter. Suddenly they vanish and give way to a large open field, freshly cut grass and all. Trees line the entire border, but no path exists out at all. A blue, nearly cloudless sunny sky has appeared above us, feeding us warmth from the sun.

Xana himself has also changed, unnoticed in the scenery change. He has taken on Ulrich's exact clothing form, save for the symbol on his chest and the colors. Every single piece of clothing is a variation of the colors black and gray.

"Ah, the samurai outfit. I haven't done this one in a long while." Xana says cheerfully. He's acting as completely calm, as if we were all friends engaging in a friendly bout. Instead of mortal enemies out to kill each other.

"Oh, so you've been a samurai before?" Ulrich asks just as cheerfully, matching Xana's tone in an obviously mocking way. Xana seems completely unfazed.

"Oh yes. It's one of my favorites." Xana exclaims. He draws his sword, which is identical to Ulrich's, and flings it into the air. It spins twice perfectly before he catches it deftly and sheathes it again.

"So. I've made it so that every element of this game is fair for the both of us. Our swords are identical, the grass beneath our feet is uniform in a perfect circle around us until the trees. Don't bother trying to go into the trees, you can't. We will both start at an equal distance from the middle, while the others watch from a platform above us, so as to not get in the way. The platform won't cast a shadow…. anyways. Every single element of this little match here is completely equal. Your sword can kill me, if you can manage it. So this is down to just skill, to see who is better. Sound like fun?" Xana says, stunning us all. We figured Xana would cheat at least in some way.

"How do I know _everything _is equal?" Ulrich asks, eyeing Xana suspiciously.

"It is. If I cheat in any manner whatsoever, your friends there can converge upon me all at once and kill me. But if any of you leave that platform in an attempt to help Ulrich, I will kill you." Xana says, looking up at us and smiling at the thought.

"Okay, deal."

"Then let the game begin!" Xana exclaims. Suddenly I find myself on a platform along with everyone else except for Xana and Ulrich. The platform we're on is just barely large enough for us all to sit down comfortably, and the entire thing is transparent so we won't miss a thing. Without any visible steering, the platforms begins to circle Xana and Ulrich, who walk to the middle of the field and take up their stances.

* * *

(Ulrich P.O.V.)

I draw my sword and hold it out in front of me, holding it with one hand at about a 45 degree angle. My other hand hangs relaxed by my side, and my feet spread slightly apart.

"I'll give you a fair warning now Xana. I was the top of my class, beaten only by my instructor. Out of the 15 levels there are in Penchak Silat, I am level 14. The only way to get to level fifteen is by having fifteen years of experience, and I have only eight."

"Ah, I see. You obviously have quite a bit of talent, I've seen what you can do against my monsters. You could actually prove to be a tough battle." Xana says, calm as ever. He holds his sword in an odd position, out in front of him and held reverse grip. His feet held slightly apart, just enough bend in the knee to change his center of gravity to the center. A very odd position, but I'm not complaining. It'll just make it easier to take him down.

"Okay then. When you hear the buzzer, you are free to attack me." After a couple of seconds, a buzzer similar to a scoreboard for a basketball game sounds. I begin walking slowly towards Xana and to the right. He does the same and we begin to circle slowly.

I have a favorite opening move. I lunge forward, appearing foolish. My opponent will often take the bait and strike down, attempting to finish it quickly. Since I can predict their move, I can dodge their blow and strike quickly and precisely. Usually, that ends the fight quickly, on my side instead of theirs.

In any fight, the key is to make the opponent overconfident, then take advantage of it.

On the third circle, I give an exasperated sigh and lunge forward quickly, striking out with my sword toward Xana's chest. As expected, he dodges and moves to strike down. I quickly recover and twist my sword towards him, aiming to connect with his torso and finish him off.

I can already feel my victory, having killed Xana in an instant, being the champion and saving the world forever.

But it's all gone in an instant. I don't know how Xana reacted so fast to my attack, but my sword is blocked an inch away before it strikes. Xana somehow blocked me! Before I can even react, My sword is down by my side and I'm on my back, Xana's blade hovering above my throat.

"Does this mean I win?"

* * *

**Nope, no talking this time. See you all next chapter!**


	30. Two Down

(Odd P.O.V.)

I watch in dismay as Xana pins Ulrich to the ground with his sword. My jaw drops at how fast Ulrich was overwhelmed. Ulrich! I've never seen Ulrich be beaten so easily by anyone. Or anything.

There was only one clash. Ulrich lunged, Xana dodged, Ulrich tried to recover but Xana had his feet out from under him before he could react. And there Xana is now, standing above Ulrich triumphantly.

"Does this mean I win?" Xana asks casually, as though he had just won a game of chess.

"How… how did you do that?" Ulrich asks, eyes wide open. Xana just laughs, a simple laugh as though he was talking to a young child.

"You tried an offensive feint. A very clever move, it isn't taught to beginners or even intermediates, only to the very best. I must congratulate you though. You gave it a good effort. Would you like to try again?" Xana asks, lifting his sword up from Ulrich's neck. He offers his hand to Ulrich to help him up. Ulrich just scowls and flips himself onto his feet with his legs.

"I say that would be an excellent idea." Ulrich says loathingly. He bows to Xana and gets in a different ready position than last time. It looks vaguely familiar…

"Ah, a new position. Excellent choice." Xana says, and mimics it. The buzzer sounds again and they go at it once more.

And in an instant I remember why it looked familiar. I once watched Ulrich go to a fencing tournament, with the full-body white suits and masks. Ulrich and Xana both seem perfectly matched in this style as well. But in fencing, you use very different swords than a katana. Katanas are flat, slightly curved, and one full length is a blade. Fencing swords are long, and the only lethal part of them is the very point, which is very sharp. They have no blade on them at all.

So why did Ulrich try this? There's no obvious reason why, except to try and throw Xana off balance and take an early lead. Which hasn't worked, for Xana is matching Ulrich blow for blow.

* * *

(Ulrich P.O.V.)

_Okay, so maybe trying fencing wasn't the best idea. Obviously Xana is well-versed in all forms of sword combat._

In a desperate attempt, I switch back from fencing style to my normal style in the blink of an eye. Catching Xana off guard, I knock his blade away and swing towards his arm.

And I'm surprise when my attack actually lands. I feel it pierce Xana's flesh, if only briefly, and I pull back. Xana furiously backpedals and stops to assess the damage.

"I am amazed! You actually managed to draw first blood Ulrich! Too bad it's only a shallow cut. Good form though. You certainly surprised me." He says, playing it off as only a meager cut. I'm pretty sure I cut him deeper than that, but there's no way he'll let me have the satisfaction of knowing that.

"I have many more tricks up my sleeve Xana. Let's see how you fare against them." I say, and without warning I attack. I exert all my knowledge, all my expertise in every area of swordfighting I know.

But Xana keeps up with me. He blocks every shot, dodges every blow, and parries every stab. I can feel myself begin to tire, and know that I have to finish this quickly, or else I won't be able to finish it at all. So I renew my fervor and begin to use my anger as a weapon.

My Penchak Silat teacher was very adamant about it's use for self-defense only. That to use anger and revenge as motives would only lead me down a path that I shouldn't follow. Because once anger has consumed you, it will never release you until the battle has ended.

But desperate times call for desperate measures. Even I know that anger has the ability to amplify a warrior's strength hundredfold. Xana notes my anger and smiles.

"Foolish boy. I know what you're thinking. You're getting mad at me on purpose. Hoping it will give you the strength to beat me. Well it won't work!" He says, getting louder and louder until he's yelling. He blocks an overhead swing from me and punches me hard in the chest. I fall backwards, landing on the grass and skidding for a foot before I stop.

I flip over onto my hands and knees and try to catch my breath. Xana's attack knocked the air clean out of me. As I gasp and wheeze, I reach over to pick up my katana as I see Xana's shadow above me. But to my dismay, I cannot pick it up. Xana's booted foot is holding it firmly against the ground, completely useless to me.

Xana kicks me in the side, knocking me over onto my back. I stare up at him and he knows that I've admitted defeat. He holds his sword towards me again, preventing any movement.

"Say it Ulrich. You know your honor depends upon it. You must admit your defeat or be shamed in front of everyone. You know you've lost." He says to me, his tone not even remotely pleasant anymore.

* * *

(Odd P.O.V.)

"I concede Xana. You are the better fighter." I hear Ulrich say, and my mind just stops.

_Ulrich lost?_

"Congratulations Ulrich. You were the first to fight, and now you will be the first to fall." Xana says, grinning evily. I watch in horror as Xana uses his blade and stabs down, piercing Ulrich's chest. He spasms in pain before he settles, his body limp and unmoving.

"Ulrich!" Yumi cries out desperately. I hear her stifle a sob as blood seeps out from Ulrich's wound, dripping onto the fresh green grass. Yumi launches herself from the pad, landing deftly on the grass and begins to run towards him.

Xana yanks his katana out from Ulrich's chest, who changes into wireframe and disappears.

"Yumi! You have violated the rules, you were not allowed to leave that platform!" Xana says as Yumi drops to her knees.

"I don't care! You killed him!" She yells, and I can hear the raw pain in her voice.

"He will be sent back to your world, completely unharmed, I assure you."

"You're still going to die!" Yumi yells. Unfortunately, she's lost her common sense. There's no way she can beat Xana like this. She stands up and hurls a fan at Xana, and then another.

"You have violated the rules. As punishment, you will be devirtualized." Xana says, not even a hint of worry shown for the two deadly disks spinning towards him. He steps to one side and dodges one of them, and ducks slightly to avoid the other, moving with such grace and speed it seemed simple.

"Prepare to die Yumi." Xana says, walking towards her. Yumi just stands there, as though she's in shock.

But the platform moves, and I see her face. She's not worried at all that Xana's coming straight for her. And I think I know why.

I look off in the distance behind Xana, and sure enough, Yumi's fans are coming back, aiming right for him. Xana shows no sign that he knows they're coming, so I think we finally have him beat!

But in the blink of an eye, Xana dodges the fans coming back. I hear a 'clink' and notice that Yumi's first fan changed direction. A similar noise happens again, and Yumi's second fan changed direction too.

Yumi, taken by surprise, jumps out of the way of the first one, but the second fan hits her full on. Slicing into her chest, I can't help but stare as the fan cuts through her chest, up through her shoulder, and flies out behind her, landing softly on the grass. Yumi drops to her knees, then lands face down in the grass, obviously dead. She and her fans both disappear moments later.

"Activate program bandwidth enlargement," Xana says, and we all look at him strangely, "Jeremie! I know you can hear me now. And I also know you have visual. I just wanted to make sure that you have Ulrich and Yumi both watch the rest of the battle as soon as they come up." He says, and then looks back towards us. He snaps his fingers, and the room dissolves as quickly as it appeared, back into the white room.

"Alrighty then, who's next?" He asks, looking at us. Both Jamie and I step forward at the same time, proclaiming the same thing.

"I am." I look at her, and she looks at me. Neither of us really want to back down.

"Oh yes! I think we'll make this one interesting, shall we? A two-on-one battle?" Jamie and I both shrug our shoulders and nod. If it will improve our chances, then sure. We'll do anything.

"You've got it Xana."


	31. Odd and Jamie

(Odd P.O.V.)

Jamie and I walk out to meet Xana, and the room begins to change again. Pillars erupt out of nowhere, small buildings, random objects. Everything is still white, but the entire room has morphed into something you might see in a video game. Just random things everywhere, all large objects.

And in the blink of an eye, color explodes in the room. Although it's still mostly grey, there's little splashes of color everywhere. Basically, it looks like an advanced city-type area. More like a futuristic battleground. There's scorch marks and bullet holes everywhere.

Xana is on top of the highest building at the moment, just so we can see him.

"Alright, I call this one 'shoot-em up.' Odd, I know you love video games. Treat this almost exactly like one. We walk around the map, there's no exits, trying to kill your opponent. This has become the most advanced video game on the planet." He says, laughing slightly.

"Just like with Ulrich, your arrows can and will kill me upon impact. Of course, it has to be a fatal impact, but you know that. I have a battle rifle, one which shoots a burst of three lasers at a time. One burst will send you back to your world, of course. Any questions?"

"Yeah. Where's the others?" Jamie asks. I look around and realize that Macas, Aelita, and Karyssa have disappeared.

"They're fine. I've put them so they're out of the way but so they can watch the fight." Xana says lazily.

"That doesn't answer my question though." Jamie says insistently. Xana just sighs and points at a wall behind us. We turn around to see that they've been put in a booth-like room. It has no doors, no chairs, only one full-wall window overlooking the battle site.

"Alright. If any of you break the glass in an attempt to help, you will be killed. Any attempt to help your friends will give you the same fate. Understood?" All three of them nod, and I turn back to look at Xana. I watch in awe as he jumps off of the 30 foot building he was on and lands with a slight thump in front of us. As he fell, his outfit changed to resemble something of a 1950's marine. A long rifle is slung over his shoulder, ready for instant use.

"By the way Jamie. Any attempt to drain my life points will earn you a one-way ticket to devirtualization. Odd, I would say the same about you, but you have no useful powers anyways." I just glare at him. My future flash power is extremely useful, but the problem is that I can't activate it myself.

Xana's presence towers over us, making us feel very incompetent. He must be at least 6'5". That puts him a good eleven inches or so taller than me.

"Of course. Now, activate random placement program." Xana says, and he smirks at us before I find myself teleported off to a random point of the map. It's fairly large, but not large enough to get confused. I get on top of a small platform and take a look around. There's a shallow trench running through the middle of the field, and tombstone-like stone monuments all over the main floor. I'm near the edge, where there is more platforms that raise up. I look to the tallest tower where Xana was and get my bearings.

I really wish I had Jamie next to me at the moment. Taking on someone like Xana who is obviously going to be much better requires strategy. Something we can't do while we're separate.

There's a long narrow catwalk that runs along one side of the map, near the wall. It's dangerous, but it's easily the fastest way to get to the other side. Dropping low so as to avoid drawing attention to myself, I run across the catwalk as fast as possible.

I skid to a stop as a burst of lasers flies out in front of me. Looking down, I see a soldier dressed similar to Xana taking aim towards me. I duck down and another volley of lasers flies over my head.

"Xana! You didn't tell me there would be AI's!" I yell out, dashing forward for cover. I hear another volley of lasers fly behind me, and then another from the opposite side. I see yet another AI taking aim towards me from in front of me. I dive forward, dropping as low to the catwalk as I could while the concrete slab that served as my cover is being slowly blown away.

"I apologize, Odd and Jamie." A voice says from nowhere. It's Xana. "I forgot to mention the AI players. To make it up to you, I have provided you both with headsets, so you can communicate with each other." It says, and I reach up to feel a small headset at my ear.

"Jamie?" I ask, hoping that Xana wasn't lying.

"Odd! Where are you?"

"I'm on the catwalks, being shot at by three AIs at once."

"I'm on the red side. I just took out an AI, and I think I see Xana. I'm going to follow him, but I won't engage him. I'm not ready yet." I look around and see that the entire room is divided into two sections, red and blue. There's markings on the walls in the color of the side, making it easier to navigate."

"Okay Jamie."

"Odd! Look out to your right!" I turn to the right and see an AI who just climbed up onto the catwalk and is taking aim at me. I duck and avoid the first shot, quickly firing back three of my own. Two of the three hit, and the guy falls off the catwalk, bleeding from the chest. I force myself to not think about what just happened, but instead about who helped me.

"That wasn't Jamie, was it?" I ask, smiling as I realize that I have someone Xana forgot about.

"Nope. Jeremie is here to help. I hacked into your com system. Xana doesn't know about it yet though, so we have an advantage."

"Einstein, you rock. Care to give me a hand here?"

"It would be a pleasure. This map started out with six AI. Jamie killed one, and you killed one. That makes four left. Jamie, there's one around the building to your left. Odd, there's one trying to sneak up on you behind you and just inside the building."

"Thanks Jeremie." I hear Jamie say over the intercom.

"Yeah Einstein, you rock." I say, and get to work.

Within five minutes, the remaining AI are all dead, thanks to Jeremie's help.

"Jamie! Xana's behind you! Up on the platform above, hiding behind a pillar. Odd, get over there to help her!"

And as I run, I watch the entire scene unfold.

Jamie can't turn around and fire a real shot, so she's being forced to make blind ones around the small wall she's hiding behind. None of them are coming even close.

But what she doesn't know is that Xana is advancing on her. In a matter of seconds she'll be taken by surprise. I wave to her frantically, but she doesn't notice Xana is right behind her until he's holding her tight.

Judging from the arching of her back, his gun is pressed against it. His arm is also around her neck, preventing her escape. As I approach, I look at her. And my heart is filled with pity as I see the pure horror in her eyes.

"You had better stop now, Mr. Della Robbia. Unless you would like to witness Miss Belpois here's death." I put on the brakes and screech to a halt.

"Let her go Xana. She's a novice fighter. I'm the one you want to really kill, aren't I?" I say carefully, slowly walking forward.

"Odd, do you think I am joking? I suggest you stop your movement now." I come to a complete halt, maybe 20 feet in front of them.

"Let her go." I repeat. Xana just begins to laugh.

"I will. But you must agree to my terms first."

"What terms?" I ask, looking at him warily. Xana is behind Jamie, using her as a human shield. Although he is much bigger than she is, I can't take the chance of trying to fire at Xana. I just don't think I'm that good of a shot.

"Jamie will go free. She can go back to the others and will live to see the next round. However, one of your lives is just about up. If she goes free, I will kill you instantly, no holding back." I look at him, and I just about agree to it instantly. After all, I'd easily give my life to save Jamie's. It's just kind of who I am.

But I look at Jamie, and she's silently pleading with me. I can see her mouthing 'no, no, no' to me. If she could, she would probably be shaking her head vigorously. And instantly, I understand.

Jamie understands that the mission is far more important than her individual life. And she knows that I have a far greater chance of winning against Xana than she does. I look at her, and she just smiles at me, reassuringly.

"No deal Xana."

"Aw, how selfish. Little Odd doesn't wanna die, so he'd let one of his best friends die?"

"You know what Xana? I'm tired of your banter. It really sucks. So shut up and fight." I say, and the smirk leaves his face immediately.

"Fine." He shoves Jamie forward, who stumbles. I run forward to grab her before she hits the ground, but she melts through my arms as only wireframe. Xana shot her in the back while she fell.

"That's it." I say firmly. I launch myself towards an unsuspecting Xana and punch him solidly in the face. He stumbles backwards, disoriented.

"C'mon Xana. Is that all you've got? Going to let a 15 year-old beat the shit out of you?" I say, hopping up and down like a boxer. But he walks towards me and just takes me completely by surprise.

He grabs my arm and swings me around full circle, letting me fly at least ten feet and crash into a wall. I skid down and land hard against the ground, some rubble falling on top of me.

I stagger to my feet to see Xana walking calmly towards me. The expression on his face is anything but calm though. He's showing pure anger.

"You know what Odd? Out of all the warriors, I think I hate you the most. Jeremie is a pain in my side with his incredible computer skills. I've never seen a kid his age with that kind of ability. Aelita can deactivate my towers. Ulrich and Yumi are incredible fighters. But you! You are just a thorn in my side!" He says, his voice getting louder and louder.

"You all have managed to beat me over and over again, but only **you** have the **nerve** to sit there and mock me!" He yells at me.

"Get used to it Xana. That's what I'm good for." He uses the butt of his gun to smash me in the temple. I go down again, hard. I've had headaches, but this one takes the cake. I'm seeing stars and tweety bird is flying circles around my head. I feel a little bit of blood dripping down my cheek from the wound I just received.

"As long as I'm here Xana, you can bet that I'll be the one to pour salt in your wounds." I say, standing up groggily again. I lean against the wall to support myself, but it feels like we're having an earthquake. I can barely stand, let alone move to defend myself. And I know I'm beat.

"Cause honestly? You've made my life living hell. And I guess that payback really is a bitch." I say, a huge smirk on my face. And it stays there even as he points his gun right between my eyes and pulls the trigger.

* * *

**Thanks to everyone who has stayed with me this long. I hope this longer-than-normal chapter is up to your expectations.**

**And I really wanted Odd to go out pissing Xana off xD.**


	32. Death of the Princess

**Just a quick note here, I started writing the first book in the middle of Season 2, when Aelita didn't have her energy field abilities. Since this book was in progress when she actually got them, she still has no powers in this book.**

* * *

(Macas P.O.V.) 

I turn my head away just before Xana pulls the trigger on Odd, but I can still hear the sickening thud of his body hitting the ground, and the splatter of his blood against the wall. Closing my eyes, I refuse to let my mind envision what Odd's body would look like. But I hear a whimper behind me and I snap open my eyes to see Karyssa with big fat tears rolling down her face.

I immediately stride over to her and wrap my arms around her in a huge hug. She sobs into my jacket for a moment before she gains a bit more control of herself and pushes herself away.

"You okay?" I ask carefully. She nods, but it's not very convincing.

"I'll be fine." I look over at Aelita, who is just standing, staring out into the distance.

"Are you okay Aelita?" She doesn't move an inch, and for a moment, looks like she doesn't even hear me.

"I'm okay. After all, he's only been devirtualized. He's back in the real world. He's not actually… dead." She almost whispers that last part. I try to find some reply, but before I can we're all whisked out over the battlefield by some unseen force. We hover for only a moment before we find ourselves back in the plain white room. Xana is sitting on a chair before us, carefully cleaning his gun.

"Now. Karyssa, I know you have no weapons." He says casually, not even pausing in his work. "So it's obvious you can't fight. So you can either be devirtualized now, or you can watch the end of the fight and be devirtualized then. Which do you prefer?" He asks her, finally glancing up at us.

"I think that's kind of a dumb question." She responds coldly.

"Ouch. That was kind of a harsh answer, don't you think?" He responds, faking being hurt. She just stares him down.

"Well, ask a stupid question, expect a stupid answer." She says, frowning at him. I can't help but smile inside. I've used that very same statement on various occasions and it has always made me feel a bit better.

"Tsk tsk. Well, if you want to stay so badly, then I guess we can't have you having an amnesia attack in the middle of this, now can we? That could prove disastrous for Macas in his battle."

"What makes you think I'm going to have an amnesia attack? And how do you know about that?" Xana just waves his hand impatiently.

"Don't patronize me. We both know that you can't remember things for very long unless you're around Odd, which I find very intriguing. I would like to know how such a phenomenon occurs, but I suppose that for now we're just going to have to temporarily remove the problem." He says.

"Remove what problem?" She asks innocently. I turn to look at her and indeed she has had an amnesia attack. Xana laughs shortly.

"That problem. Now see, we don't want you interfering with our fight. So…" He looks up and thinks for a moment.

"Run program de-bug. Temporarily patch memory loss bug on profile **Karyssa**, patch to be deleted upon devirtualization." He says. It completely baffles me why he feels the need to say it aloud. But an instant later, Karyssa gasps.

"Macas…" She says, out of breath. "I feel… incredible! Like my mind has been set free!" She says. She looks down at her gloved hands and just stares at them for a moment.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's skip the emotional stuff and just get on with the fight for now, alright?" He says impatiently. He look at Aelita and me.

"Which one of you wants to go first?" We both just stare back at him, baffled.

"Uhm… I guess I will?" I say, confused. "Considering Aelita has no weapons either." I step forward while Xana looks at me oddly.

"Oh! That's right! You haven't discovered them yet, have you?" Aelita and I stare at each other for a moment.

"What?"

"Oh Jeremie? When were you planning on telling Aelita about her energy fields?"

"Jeremie?" Aelita asks, somewhere between confused and hurt.

"I… I wasn't sure yet Aelita. I had found the code that suggested you might have weapons, but I was too busy with other things at the moment. I didn't want you to get your hopes up until I was sure." Jeremie says.

"Oh bravo Jeremie. Way to take one for the team." Xana says mockingly.

"So Xana, do I have weapons or not?" Aelita asks impatiently.

"Oh, you do. Your father made sure you had some sort of protection. You really think your father would be careless enough to abandon his daughter on Lyoko defenseless?"

"My father did NOT abandon me!" Aelita says, her temper rising. Xana just laughs.

"Foolish girl. Your father left you on Lyoko not for your protection, but so you were out of the way. After your mother died, he had to spend more time with you, and less on Carthage. Which was unnacceptable. So he sent you to Lyoko. Then he wouldn't have to feed you, take care of you, anything of the sort." I can feel Aelita's temper rising from here.

"No. That's a lie." She spits out with enough venom to kill a snake.

"Oh is it now? Well, I'll let you figure that out for youself. But for right now, I believe I have a fight waiting with Macas."

"But I have weapons!" She protests angrily.

"Not at the moment you don't. I **could** activate them, I suppose. But that is way below my level. Have little Jeremie do it for you when you get back. Or, even better… go do it yourself." He says, and the horror dawns upon me. In the blink of an eye, Xana has drawn his rifle, aimed, and shot towards Aelita. I dive towards her, but I'm too late, too far away. The burst hits Aelita square in the stomach, and she's thrown back.

I do manage to catch her before she hits the ground though. As Karyssa runs up, I hold Aelita in my arms as she coughs up blood, adding to the amount already on my vest from my previous injuries. She looks at me, smiles faintly, and is devirtualized.

I sigh, standing up. I grab my sword from my belt and hold it out, ready to be ignited at any time.

"That's it Xana. That was a low shot, worse than any other you've done. And I'm going to make you pay for it." I say. Remembering what Xana said about Ulrich and anger, I make sure to keep my temper in check. Although it's getting very difficult.

"Finally. This ought to be interesting. The Chosen One wants to take me on. That's fine by me. Where would you like to fight?"

"Right here right now. I intend to make these white walls red with your blood."

"Oh ho ho! Watch that temper _boy_. Don't let it control you like it did Ulrich. And no, this isn't the appropriate place for another swordfight. I think we should go… here." He says. There's no transition this time at all. No fancy blending of the scenery or anything. We're just suddenly in a cavernous room. Technology surrounds us, it's as if we're on a space-age star ship. And we're on a giant catwalk.

I look around, and there's frail handrails on either side. Looking over the edge, I realize we're definitely on a star ship. Because we're suspended above a bottomless chasm.

Very Star Wars-y.

"Why this place?" Xana just shrugs.

"The bad guy is supposed to fall into a bottomless pit, right? Well, here's your chance. Yes, if you manage to knock me in there, I will fall and die. Same with you. Now, as for the rules…" Xana begins, but I quickly interrupt him.

"Where's Karyssa?" Xana sighs again.

"What makes you think I would hurt her? She's over there," he points over to where the catwalk connects with one of the walls, and Karyssa is indeed standing there. "Now, the rules are simple. Both of our blades can and will kill the other. Well, yours will kill me. You'll just be devirtualized. Everything is equal, just like my bout with Ulrich. Now, prepare to fight, I want to get started." He says. He's changed into a loose-fitting tunic, similar to mine in structure. But of course, it's all black. He pulls out what looks like a lightsaber and flips it on. It looks almost identical to a lightsaber in fact.

"So what are you now, a sith? This isn't Star Wars, Xana."

"Maybe so, but I've always been a fan. Now get ready, or be struck down." He says, getting ready. I ignite my energy sword, grateful that it's different than his, and crouch in my ready stance.

There's no cue to begin this time. It will be just like a real fight. And I know that in real fights, whoever makes the first move usually loses.

They make the first move, and therefore are open to the first counterattack.

So Xana and I stare each other down for a minute, waiting to see who is more impatient.

It doesn't take long before Xana growls and lunges towards me. I parry his attack and swing down, hoping to finish this quickly. It's to no avail, as Xana twists out of the way and comes at me from the side.

And so the fight for Lyoko begins.

* * *


	33. Revelation

(Macas P.O.V.)

As the battle rages on, I slowly realize that Xana is better than me. I do have the power of premonitions, but the fact is that I've never been trained in swordplay.

I'm a rookie. The only reason I can keep up with Ulrich and Xana is the fact that I know what their attacks are, when they're coming, and how fast.

Without that, I'd be an absolute novice.

And since Xana is obviously very well trained in all forms of combat, I am totally outmatched. Xana has far greater strength and speed than I, and his reflexes are amazing. He may not be able to see my attack coming beforehand, but he doesn't need it.

I am outmatched. Xana is better than me in every aspect.

And with Aelita gone, there is no way I can call upon that hidden power.

"Is this all you have? Come on, I expected _the chosen one_ to do much better." He says with a sneer. I rush him, and our two blades clash together, both of us pushing hard in an attempt to knock the other off balance.

"Or is it because you can't do any better? Because your _princess_ is gone? Admit it. I would have defeated you long ago if you didn't have that ridiculous power." I can't think of anything to say, so I remain silent and concentrate on holding my ground.

"What's the matter? Tongue tied?" He says with a smirk, and with an almighty shove he knocks me backwards. I fall onto my back but use my momentum to roll myself back up to my feet. I barely have time to get my bearings before Xana is upon me again, his attacks swift and furious.

"Or is it that you're scared? Have you finally realized that you're up against a better opponent?" He knocks my blade away and hits me squarely on the chest. I fly backwards and hit the ground, wheezing for breath.

"Macas! Get up! We all know you can beat him!" I hear Jeremie yell to me.

"C'mon Macas, you can do it!" I hear Odd yell, although it sounds very distant.

"Beat him and end this!" Yumi adds. I stand up, still feeling very lightheaded. But I'm up, and I'm ready to go.

"Aw... isn't that sweet? Little Macas Keloly has the support of his friends! Too bad it won't help at all." Xana says, trying to mock me.

"Bring it on." I say calmly, holding my sword at the ready. In the corner of my eye, I see Karyssa. She's got her head down, her eyes closed, and her features are contorted in concentration.

But I get snapped back to reality when I see Xana bearing down upon me. He raises his sword to strike down, and I block with my own.

In the split second that we're locked there, I watch Karyssa as she waves her hand at me. I glow a bright orange before my vision gets clouded over.

Yes, actually. Clouded over. An orange cloud of smoke has enveloped me, and it quickly evaporates. When it does, I see that I'm behind Xana and he has no idea where I went.

Seeing my chance, I strike down quickly. My sword swipes straight for Xana's back, I've won!

But horror dawns on me when I hear the sound of energy clashing. Looking down, I see that somehow, Xana has managed to block it! His arm is twisted around in an odd angle, but sure enough, his blade is across his back, blocking my blow.

And oddly enough, Xana is glowing a deep malevolent red.

I pull away absolutely dumbfounded. There's no way anyone, _anyone,_ could have moved that fast. It's not humanly possible.

But then again, I am dealing with a virus.

Xana straightens up, the red glow fading. He turns around to me, absolutely furious.

"You cheated." He says angrily. He looks over to Karyssa, who is just staring at us in horror. I turn to him and smirk.

"I beg to differ Xana. You said nothing about the fact that Karyssa couldn't help me. You specified that every other time but this one." I say, and Xana glares at me furiously.

"Fine then," he spits out, "but from now on, any more interruptions and I will kill her mercilessly. Understand?" He says to me. I nod slowly, as does Karyssa.

"Now, let's try this again. I am really starting to tire of this." He quickly launches himself towards me, knocking me off balance. I backpedal furiously, trying desperately to evade his attacks. I actually back into the handrail of the catwalk and use my momentum to bounce off of it.

Xana's blade strikes exactly where I was only a moment ago, cutting through it like a hot knife through butter.

But his miss has allowed me time to regain my composure, and this time I attack him. I know he's mastered every style of swordfighting, so I just attack wildly, forgoing any form or style, whether it's real or just something I made up. But he easily stops each one. After only a moment, I stop to catch my breath. I glance over at Karyssa, who looks to be concentrating again.

_NO!_

Another flash of smoke appears, and I reappear beside Xana this time. But Karyssa has created 7 other fake copies of me, each one moving and looking around independently.

"You have broken the rules again!" Xana yells, looking over at Karyssa, who has started running. Xana reaches down and pulls out a pistol literally from nowhere and fires three shots.

I watch almost as if in slow motion. The first one strikes her in the shoulder, and she stumbles. As she stumbles, I realize that I'm running towards her with amazing speed.

But I'm too late, because the second shot hits her in the back, spinning her around. These aren't lasers, these are real bullets. I watch in horror as the last shot hits her in the stomach. And I reach her only a second later, scooping her into my arms, trying to stop the bleeding. But by now, I know she's done for.

The blood is seeping out of her wounds, soaking into her clothes and beginning to pool on the floor. She looks up at me and manages a faint smile before she vanishes, just like the others.

"NOOOOO!" I yell out, her blood still on my hands. I step to my feet, fuming, and run back over to where Xana is. The other copies of me have disappeared along with Karyssa, but my anger has completely consumed me. I can no longer think straight. I launch myself at Xana, the brute force of my swings knocking him back.

"Foolish." He mutters. With the ease of swatting a fly, he strikes the blade of my sword while I'm in mid-swing, completely knocking it out of my hands and back behind me. I reach in desperation as my sword flies off the edge and into the bottomless chasm.

Turning around, I find Xana's lightsaber-esque sword pointing towards my throat.

And I accept defeat.

"Fine Xana. You win. I have lost."

"Stop calling me that. It's really beginning to bore me." He says, pulling his sword away. I just look at him confused.

"Call you what?"

"Xana." I just get even more confused.

"Wha…?" I stutter, unable to fathom what to say. He just smirks at me.

"Let me really introduce myself. I am not really Xana. I am it's creator." I stare at him incredulously.

"Franz Ho…?" I begin, but he cuts me off.

"NO! I am NOT that pathetic fool! I am far superior to him!"

"Then… who?" He smirks at me.

"Franz Hopper and I were partners, working on this project. He created Lyoko and Carthage. I created Xana, the world's first real artificial intelligence. We were going to make millions together. But when the government came knocking on our door, little Franz got cold feet. So he locked me up in this wretched place, so I couldn't side with the government. As payback, I locked him deep within Carthage, where he will never escape. " He pauses for a moment and seems to take it all in.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Jon. Jon Keloly."


	34. The Prophecy

**_Hello, back again with the next chapter. I know the last chapter left off at a horrible cliffhanger, and I hope this sates your appetite for a while._**

* * *

(Macas P.O.V.) 

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Jon. Jon Keloly." I stare at him unbelievingly, and I hear audible gasps over the intercom.

"You're… you're… my uncle?" I stutter, unable to comprehend what he's saying.

"Wrong again." He says, almost cheerily. My mind has gone blank, the gears in my brain have stopped turning.

"Then… what…?" I try to ask.

"Heh. Robert Keloly." I just nod faintly.

"My father."

"Wrong. **He's** your uncle."

"What? Then that means… you must be…"

"That's right, **son**." I rear back, attempting to distance myself from him, but the handrail prevents me from doing so.

"NO! Robert Keloly, no matter HOW horrible he is, is my father! He's raised me since my birth!"

"Wrong! I am your true biological father. You had better get used to the idea Macas, because that's not about to change."

"**NO!**" I yell out at the top of my lungs. I push myself along the handrail, distancing myself from him. My mind has gone completely blank, I am no longer able to think for myself. My instincts kick in and I turn around and run. But before I even begin, I find myself trapped, unable to move.

I kick around wildly, attempting to free myself, but to no avail. He's grabbed onto me tight and isn't letting go.

"Listen up son, and listen well. You now know what Robert has tried so hard for 15 years to hide from you. You are my son. And I know as well as you know that the prophecy by Franz Hopper designates you as the Chosen One."

"That's right," Jeremie says over the intercom, "He will be the one to destroy you. You may have defeated us this time, but next time we'll be ready." Xana… no, **Jon**, just begins laughing.

"Oh, that's right! You haven't actually read the prophecy, have you? Well then, just let me give it to you." He lets me go and I fall to the ground, unable to move.

"Xana! Initiate file transfer protocol. Send file 1564.32-2 to terminal 2a."

"You're… you're not Xana…?" I mumble, more to myself than to him.

"Oh no. As you can see I give the orders here. Xana just follows them. So you really were fighting Xana… in a sense. But it was indeed me behind it all." He says, almost happy to get rid of this information.

"When you get back, you can scrutinize the prophecy all you want. But I'll tell you right now that your friends probably aren't going to like what they find. You see, the prophecy states that you _can_ beat me. But you supposedly have a choice to make. You can either defeat me… or join me.

And when you get back up there, you'll see that the prophecy clearly states which side you will pick." He says with a smirk.

"No… I will not join you! You've tried to kill me and my friends over and over again!" I yell out. I stagger back up to my feet and push myself backwards. But this time when I hit the rail, it isn't as solid as it usually is. The bar bends beneath my weight and I fall through the gap.

Out of instinct, I grab the bar before I fall into oblivion. And I see that I hit the bar precisely where Xana… no, Jon, sliced it with his lightsaber.

Jon walks up to the edge and looks at me curiously.

"You do know that if you fall down there, you will be deleted, right?" He says with a smirk. I grasp onto that bar for dear life.

"Jeremie… please… get me out of here…" I mumble. I look up and see my father's face as if it was really for the first time before everything goes white.

(Jamie P.O.V.)

As soon as Jeremie yells to us that he's got him, I wait no longer. I'm in the elevator, waiting impatiently for the rest of them to get in. I tap my foot nervously, I'd like to be there when Macas gets out of the scanner.

As soon as everyone else has filed in--which took an ETERNITY—I hit the button and we go down. The door opens, and I rush into the room. The scanner is still closed, but almost as if on cue, it opens when I step out. Macas quickly falls out, collapsing onto the floor. He rolls himself into a tight ball and hugs his knees desperately. I kneel down beside him and wait for a moment before I venture to ask.

"Macas… are you okay?" His head snaps up to look at me, his eyes horribly bloodshot.

"Of course I'm okay!" He yells at me. "I just found out that the man who I thought was my father has been lying to me for my entire life, of **course** I'm okay! And the man that I am destined to kill, the one who has been trying to kill you for years is my real father!" He snaps at me. I rear back from his sudden outburst, but I must've looked really hurt because he instantly softens up.

"I'm sorry Jamie. I didn't mean to yell at you, I just…" He trails off and looks away.

"It's okay, I understand. Come here." I pull him into me and hug him tightly. "Don't worry about it. We'll figure this all out." He returns my embrace, and for a moment I feel as though he's never going to let go.

_Not that I'd mind…_

I gently rub his back as he wraps his arms around me in a giant hug and pulls me into him closer than I've we've ever been. And out of nowhere, everyone else surrounds me and Macas, giving us both a hand up.

"C'mon Macas, let's get you back to your room. It's nearly three in the morning, and you should sleep this off, give your brain a chance to think." Jeremie says, patting Macas on the back. Macas vigorously shakes his head, showing clearly his disapproval.

"No. I need to see the prophecy." And without any other argument, we all head back up to the lab.

We gather ourselves around the computer as Jeremie sits in the computer chair, and after only a moment, he opens up the message from Xana and we all peer intently at the screen.

And after only a moment, Jeremie begins to read aloud.

**From pained past comes a light of hope, one chosen by fate to defeat the evil.  
****Beaten by elders, hurt by friends, but powerful indeed in strength and spirit.**

**Chosen by fate to free this land from the evil that binds it,  
****The Chosen One shall know how to free the world.  
****This warrior has a choice, despite destiny's hold.**

**Two choices befall him, a decision  
****Which shall tear him from his beloved.  
****Will he defeat Xana or join him?**

**Should the Chosen One pick to fight the inevitable,  
****He would perish, save for his friends.  
****The graceful geisha, who's loyalty never waivers.  
****The quick marksman, ingenuity at its finest.  
****The cunning fox, the most valuable asset.  
****The fair elf, royalty among the nobility.  
****The swift samurai, a powerful fighter.  
****The agile cat, who's courage exceeds.  
****The beautiful archer, a thief of hearts.  
****Their friendship and their love bind them forever.**

**But even the most impregnable bonds can be broken  
****By a betrayal.**

**The Chosen One will betray his friends  
****They fight for a lost cause,  
****And he is the only one that will see,  
****That the way to save them  
****Is to kill them**

After Jeremie has finished reading, I turn to look at Macas, who is just staring at the screen with a blank face. No emotion whatsoever. Everyone else slowly turns to look at him, to see his reaction to this new disturbing news. After a moment, he looks around at the rest of us, who are waiting patiently for a response.

"Well… that's…" He begins, trying to think of something to say. "That's a whole lot bull shit, don't you guys think?" He asks, smiling weakly. I see everyone attempt a smile back at him, with varying degrees of success.

"I've… I've got to go, guys." He says, and walks quickly over to the elevator, limping slightly. I see Krys try to follow him, but Ulrich gently holds her back. The elevator door closes with Macas alone in it and rises to the top.

"Ulrich… why?"

"Because he needs to be alone right now. You know Macas, he just wants to think for a while. If he's not back by morning we'll go looking for him, alright?"

"Okay… I guess." I feel Yumi put her arm around my shoulders, giving me a hug.

"Don't worry Jamie. He'll be fine. Remember, he's one tough boy." I look at her strangely.

"What makes you think I'm worried?" I ask, even though I am. All alone, out in the woods all night long? It's scary just thinking about it. But Yumi just laughs slightly.

"Because you're you. Just remember that Macas has been through a lot worse than a night alone in the woods." I look at her, thinking to what he's endured in the real world that would be worse. But I come up short.

"He has?" Yumi looks at me for a second, then her eyes open wide in realization.

"That's right! Macas hasn't told you about his past, has he?"

"Why? What happened to him?"

"I don't really think it's our business to tell you that." Odd says quietly but firmly.

"But Krys could tell her…" Aelita mentions thoughtfully. Krys perks up from her position next to Odd.

"Tell her what?"

"About Macas' and your past." Krys just stares at us blankly.

"What about it?" She looks over at me as though seeing me for the first time. "Hi! My name is Krys, what's your name?"

Odd looks at her, totally bewildered. Normally Krys just has to be around Odd in order for her memory to work. Nevertheless, Odd puts his arm around her waist and pulls her in close to him. She snuggles into his side, which I take as a good sign.

"Hey Odd, who's your friend?" She asks, motioning towards me.

"Hi Krys… I'm Jamie. Don't you remember me at all?" She looks at me for a moment, concentrating hard.

"No… nope. I don't remember you at all. Have we met before?"

"Her memory has gone haywire!" Jeremie says, looking at her then back at me. "Xana fixed her memory problem, but then when he deleted the patch, it must've made it worse!"

"Come on Krys. Let's go sleep it off, see if maybe that'll help." Aelita says, and everyone begins to file out.

* * *

**_Sorry for such a long delay in updating. I procrastinated like no other, plus I wanted to make sure that the prophecy was exactly how I wanted it.  
This story is starting to come to a close, as you can probably tell. 34 chapters is pretty long for a story, even for me. It looks like this one is going to be juuuust longer than the first book, by like... a chapter._**

**_Thanks for reading, reviews are appreciated._**


	35. The Day After

**Sorry for the long wait. I know there's at least a few people out there waiting for this. Right? xD**

* * *

(Ulrich P.O.V.) 

"Ulrich… Ulrich… wake up, love…" I hear vaguely, and I feel someone gently shaking my shoulder. After another second or two of this, I feel someone kiss me for a split second then pull away.

"Mmmm… Yumi, I really hope that's you…" I say, still half asleep.

"And what if it wasn't?" I snap my eyes open and see Yumi's hazy silhouette above me. After a few more blinks, her face comes into focus and I smile.

"Then you would have a very unhappy Ulrich." I say, sitting up. I pat the bed beside me and she sits down.

"So, what brings you to my dorm room this early?" I ask, slipping my arm around her waist. She just laughs slightly.

"Ulrich, take a look at the clock." She says. Leaning back, I look around her and see my clock blaring 11:18 in bright green numbers.

"Oh wow. I really overslept, didn't I?" I say, leaning my head on her shoulder.

"Yeah, you did. But just look at Odd." I look across the room to see Odd still sound asleep, lying fully clothed on top of his sheets.

"Heh. He looks like he could sleep for another couple of hours."

"I think we're all tired after last night's events. I didn't wake up myself until about an hour ago. Mom actually came in and woke me up."

"So why did you come here?"

"Well, where else would you rather have me go? After all, it's Saturday and you didn't answer your cell." I reach over and grab my cell phone from my table where it was laying. Flipping it open, I see it says two missed calls, both from Yumi.

"Sorry about that. It was on vibrate." I say, switching it back to normal.

"That's okay. But since you two were asleep, the others probably are as well. So I'm gonna go wake them up too, okay?" I nod tiredly. She stands up and I begin to lie down again.

"Oh no you don't!" Yumi says, grabbing my arm and halting my downward descent. She pulls me up until I'm in a standing position next to her. "I need you to stay awake. I don't want to have to wake you up again when I come back. Okay?"

"Mmkay." I mumble, just now beginning to really wake up. I still must've looked really tired though, because she just looks at me disbelievingly.

"As a matter of fact Ulrich, I want you to wake up Odd and Macas, go take your shower, and meet the rest of us out at the bench at about noon." I look her in the eye to show her I'm awake and I nod.

"I can do that."

"Thanks Ulrich. I hate to be bossy, but _someone _has to get you guys up." She says with a smile. I give her a quick kiss and she leaves to go wake up the others. Looking around, I see that it's 11:21. So I have just about half an hour. Grabbing a random article from the cluttered floor, I toss it in Odd's direction. It hits him on the head and he groans.

"Whatimsit?" He mumbles. Luckily for me, years of speaking 'Odd' have allowed me to easily translate into actual words.

"It's almost eleven-thirty. Get up, we're supposed to be at the bench by noon." I say, grabbing a towel and a change of clothes. After I get Odd into a vague sitting position, I walk out to Macas' room down the hall.

After knocking a few times with no answer, I try the handle to find that it's open. And it only takes a moment to realize that Macas isn't there, and that he hasn't been. His sheets are still made, there's no shoes on the floor or anything. He obviously hasn't come back since last night.

Refusing to make any guesses as to where he might be, I close his door and go take my shower.

I get to the bench just after noon with Odd in tow, who is still yawning profusely even after his shower. Yumi and the rest of the gang are sitting there, waiting for us. Well, everyone except for Macas.

"Hey Ulrich. Um… good morning, Odd." Yumi says to Odd, who still looks half asleep.

"Goo-ood morning." He replies, yawning again.

"I thought you were supposed to go wake up Macas." Krys says, tilting her head to the side.

"Well… I went to his room, but he wasn't there. I don't think he'd been there at all."

"What makes you say that?" Aelita asks.

"His sheets were still made and stuff."

"Yeah," Krys says, "Macas hates to make his bed. He got in trouble for that all the time when we were younger." I sit down next to Yumi, and Odd leans against a nearby tree.

"I thought her memory was going haywire and stuff." I say quietly to Yumi, so Krys can't hear.

"It has." She whispers back.

"Hey Ulrich? Who's your friend? He's cute." Krys says, looking over at Odd.

"She's been doing that all morning. Remembering and forgetting like crazy. Xana didn't fix it, he made it worse." She says spitefully. Before Xana modified it, she was doing good. Now she can't even remember Odd."

Speaking of Odd, I look over to see him slump down against a tree. I remember him telling me that he was nervous about asking out Krys because she would forget and he'd have to ask her over and over again.

Looks like it's happening. Poor Odd.

I stand up and grab Odd by the hand, pulling him up and over to where Krys is sitting. Sitting him down next to her, they both look at me strangely.

"Krys, this is Odd. He's your boyfriend." I say and Krys looks over at Odd again.

"Oh. Hi Odd. How long have we been going out?" She asks innocently.

"Since yesterday." He replies.

"Oh. I'm sorry I can't remember you." She says, and she snuggles into his chest. Odd wraps his arm around her and holds her tightly. Looking up at me, he has the most grateful face I have ever seen on him.

"You're welcome." I say and sit down next to Yumi again.

"Aw, Ulrich. You're so sweet." Yumi says, kissing me on the cheek.

"Well, you know me." I say smugly, stretching out.

"Yeah I know you, I'm in love with you after all." She says, smiling at me.

"Love you too Yumi." I say, and kiss her gently.

(Jamie P.O.V.)

Looking around the group, all of the sudden I feel incredibly lonely.

Odd and Krys are talking and laughing with each other. I don't know if she has her memory back for the moment or not, but they look so cute together.

Jeremie and Aelita are doing what they enjoy. Working on the computer. I have no idea what this entails, but they're sitting very close to each other, talking excitedly and pointing at the screen.

Yumi and Ulrich are just adorable. Ulrich is leaning against the bench, and Yumi is snuggled into his chest. They're not talking, just enjoying each other's company.

I have no one. Everyone in the group has a significant other but me.

And suddenly, I have the irrepressible urge to leave. I can't stand to just sit there and watch everyone enjoy each other's company while I feel so left out.

So I stand up and walk off. I must've gotten at least 25 feet away before anyone realizes I'm gone.

"Jamie! Where are you going?" Jeremie calls to me. I just turn around, shrug my shoulders, and walk off.

(Yumi P.O.V.)

I watch as Jamie walks away, going further and further. And I feel such pity for her that it hurts.

"Yumi, I'm going to go with…" Ulrich begins, and starts to get up, but I pull him back.

"No Ulrich. Just let her be. If anything, she's just like Macas. She needs some time alone." I say, looking him in the eyes. He looks hesitant to obey, so I throw in the clincher.

"You're not going to leave me, are you?" I ask sweetly. He sighs and sits back down next to me.

"I just don't feel like she should be going off by herself."

"Ulrich, don't feel like I don't care about her. I do, but she needs to have her space. Do you know why she left?" He shakes his head, looking bewildered.

"She's lonely, of course. I mean, look at us." I say, looking towards the others, who are also listening in.

"Jeremie and Aelita are together, doing what they do best. Odd is trying to keep Krys from forgetting him again. You and I are practically wrapped up in each other. And the only one she wants to be with has gone off by himself for a while. I think she was just following his example."

"What, you think Jamie and Macas like each other?" Ulrich asks me, totally sincerely. I can't help it, I just begin to laugh.

"Ulrich, I love you to death, but sometimes you are as dumb as a rock." I say, kissing him quickly so there is no hard feelings.

Looking around at everyone else, the girls seem to agree with me, and the boys just have blank expressions.

"Odd, Jeremie. Did neither of you notice either?" They both shake their heads. "Did you see them at the pool? They were all over each other. And I always catch them stealing glances at each other. I guess girls just notice this stuff more than guys do."

"And that's why I'm glad I have you." Ulrich says, and pulls me in close for a hug. I hug him back, enjoying his warmth.

"And don't worry about Jamie. She'll be fine. Hey, maybe she'll find Macas while she's out there."

* * *

**One more chapter down. R&R please.**


	36. Midnight Talk

**_I apologize for the wait. I could make a bunch of excuses, but I won't. You might want to scan over the last chapter real quick as a refresher. I had to. And it's my story. xD_**

_**This chapter is dedicated to my beta, AngElle. Again. If anybody's interested, she's also known as AMIR, or AmIReallyTheOne. If thanks go to anyone for this chapter... or this story in general, it's her.**_

* * *

(Macas P.O.V.)

I hear sirens start up in the distance, but not too far away. I don't have too much time, because I don't want to be seen near this guy when he's picked up. Using his jacket again, I make sure that all my fingerprints are gone before I stand up and walk away.

Grabbing my jacket, I begin to jog, nice and steady. There's no need to run, but walking is out of the question by now. After I've jogged a couple blocks and rounded a few corners, I deem it safe enough to walk again.

By now, I've reached the forest.

_I've been gone for almost a whole day now. I should probably go back now._

I walk into the forest, meandering along the paths. I'm not too familiar with the forest itself, but I have a pretty good sense of direction and I know that sooner or later I'll end up back at the school.

I'm walking along the path, when over to my right I hear movement. It's too loud to be a small rodent or anything, so it must be a person. Checking the time on my cell phone, it's nearly midnight.

Ignoring the noise, I keep walking until I hear another one, similar to the first. Then I hear a branch snapping and a quiet 'whoa.' And the whoa sounded really familiar.

I walk through the underbrush for a short distance before I come upon another path that runs nearly parallel to my own. Seeing a broken branch lying on the ground, I look up in the tree to see Jamie sitting there, staring at me.

"Jamie?"

"Macas?"

"Jamie? What the hell are you doing out here, in the middle of the forest, at midnight of all times? It's not safe for you out here!"

"What are you talking about? It's not any safer for you than it is for me, and you've been out here for two nights now!"

"God damnit Jamie, it's a lot safer for me than it is for you! Say some mugger walks by. Who do you think he's going to rob, me or you? What about a rapist? He's sure not going to rape me! Besides, I can take care of myself, I've been through worse. You know that," I say heatedly. She just looks at me as though I'm an idiot. And suddenly, something clicks in my mind.

"I… I haven't ever told you, have I?" I say. She shakes her head at me, and suddenly I feel like a complete jackass. Which, essentially, I am.

I sigh and lean my head back, breathing deeply.

"Okay Jamie. I owe you a story. Would you like it now or later?" She just looks at me for a moment before she nods her head.

"Now."

"Alright then. Give me a sec, and I'll be up there." I say, looking around. Unfortunately, I believe that Jamie broke the easiest branch to get up in the tree. So that means this won't be exactly easy. I circle the tree for a second, looking at it. When I find a suitable branch, I jump up to grab it.

I miss it, but not by much. So I jump at the trunk of the tree and push myself back off, launching myself upwards. I grab the branch and swing up deftly, landing softly. I reach over and grab a branch, beginning to navigate my way over to Jamie.

(Jamie P.O.V.)

I watch in awe as Macas climbs over to me. He looks so comfortable in the tree, even jumping a little bit from branch to branch. I never knew Macas was this agile. I mean, on Lyoko is one thing, but I never knew that he was so deft in real life.

He finally settles on a branch right next to mine, and just slightly above me.

"Macas?" I venture to ask, "Where have you been? I mean, have you just been wandering in the woods all day?" He shakes his head at me, looking away.

"I've been everywhere. The woods, the school campus, the city. Not too far, I didn't want to get lost."

"Why didn't you come back sooner?"

"I needed to get away. I mean, finding out your father has been lying to you all your life isn't exactly easy to take in, you know." I nod, even though he probably didn't see it. I lean back against the trunk of the tree, and notice that he had the same idea at the same time. So we're sitting right next to each other in a tree, in the middle of the woods, at midnight. I don't think I can say I've ever done this before.

"I believe I have a story to tell you." He says quietly. I just murmur an 'uh huh.' Not really being able to form words very well at the moment. From what I've gathered, Macas must have some horrible traumatic event in his past. Supposedly, he's able to take care of himself just fine for days on end.

"What would you like to know? I'm an open book," He says calmly, opening his arms as if inviting me. After a moment of silence from me, he prods me on further.

"Go ahead. Ask any question."

"Any question?"

"Sure. As long as I don't deem it _too_ personal, then it's fine."

"Well, okay. Yumi said you've been through a lot worse than a night alone in the woods. What did she mean?" I ask, and he smiles at me sadly.

"Well, let's just say my whole childhood was a night alone in the woods."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, let me start at the beginning."

"Okay."

"I was born in the United States. It doesn't really matter where, because by the time I was six, I had lived like everywhere. France, England, Russia, Canada, you name it. My... supposed father, Robert Keloly was married to Kathryne and she gave birth to me. A year later, she gave birth to twins, Karyssa and Kailynn."

"Karyssa has a twin?" He frowns, looking down at the ground below us.

"Had a twin."

"What happened to her?" He just shrugs, looking off into the distance.

"Same thing that happened to my mother," He trails off, still staring off into the trees.

"What happened?" He starts to talk without looking at me.

"My father happened." I sigh quietly.

"You're being very vague."

"…Sorry. Let me tell you a little about my father. He was abusive, an alcoholic, heavy smoker, a drug dealer, and most importantly, he hated his little girls. I was constantly abused and hit, and Karyssa and Kailynn weren't much better off. Of course, that was before the… incident."

"What was the incident?" He takes a deep breath and continues.

"It happened a couple years ago, I was about nine at the time. Kailynn stayed home sick from school that day. I can just imagine little eight-year-old Kailynn walking out of her bedroom, sick and coughing, clutching a blanket. She hears her parents arguing again goes out to find out what's wrong."

"What did he do to them?"

"I don't know, I wasn't there. I came home from school to find an ambulance in front of the house. My mother and sister had been shot, and my father arrested. Mom died in the ambulance, Kailynn later in the hospital."

"He shot them?" Macas sighs and bounces his heel against the trunk of the tree.

"Yeah. He did."

"Did he go to jail?" Macas nods a few times.

"Yes. But he plead guilty and got off easily. Something about drunken insanity, I can't remember. I was nine at the time. He had good behavior and got out after about four years, with a court order to never drink again." He says with frustration evident in his voice.

"But that didn't stop him, did it?" He shakes his head.

"Not a chance. He went right back to his old ways, to his old partners."

"Partners?"

"He was a drug dealer, remember? I don't think he took them, he just sold them. And guess who got to deliver."

"He had you do it?"

"Made me do it. Pulled me out of school and sent me all over the city. We were in New York City at the time, which is huge and dangerous for a thirteen year old. Got beat up more than once, and had everything stolen from me. Didn't help that my father would beat me again when I got home."

"So that's why you can take care of yourself." He nods slowly.

"Yeah. I mostly just had to run, though. A thirteen year old kid doesn't stand a chance against a drugged up nineteen-year-old. So I got pretty good at running and jumping and stuff. Hopping fences and the like."

"Can you fight?" He laughs quietly.

"Kind of. Not nearly as well as Ulrich. A twenty-year-old guy by the name of Turk helped me out, taught me a little bit of street fighting."

We sit in silence for a little while, the rhythmic 'thump' of his heel hitting against the tree reverberating around us.

"Any other questions?" He asks after a minute.

"Why do you always say your 'father,' instead of your 'dad.'?" He just shrugs.

"Habit. He never really earned the affectionate title of 'dad.' So I always call him my father."

"Oh, okay." The silence resumes.

"Is that really all?" He asks after another moment. I just shrug.

"I'm not really a very curious person."

"Don't you want to know what happened to Karyssa?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like why she's memory impaired?" I blink in surprise.

"I just assumed it was something she was born with." He shakes his head again.

"No. Have you ever been watching Karyssa, and it just feels like she's incredibly smart?" I tilt my head to one side, thinking.

"Yes," I say, nodding. "It does feel like that sometimes."

"My father did it to her. She used to be incredibly smart. Like, Jeremie smart. Aced all her tests, got all A's at school."

"So what happened to her?"

"My father again."

"He shot her too?" He shakes his head.

"No. Well, one day she came home from school, crying and upset. She'd missed like two points on a test, gotten a 98 percent. My father came home in a drunken rage, I think he was upset over a deal that had fallen through."

"What did he do to her?"

"Well, if there's one thing he despises, it's crying. I haven't cried in a long, long time. So, drunk as hell, he grabbed a butcher knife from the kitchen and stabbed her in the head."

"He… he… how in the world did she survive?"

"I don't know. Miracle of modern science, I guess. Got her rushed to the hospital, she underwent hours of surgery and ICU. I don't know how, but my dad passed it off as an accident and received no punishment for it."

"So that's why she can't remember anything?"

"Yeah. I worked with her for months on remembering me and who I am, but generally, she can't remember anything for more than twenty-four hours or so."

"Then what happened?"

"After a few months, my father sent me here. After only a couple of weeks, he sent Karyssa too. You pretty much know the rest."

"My god." Is all I could say. He turns to me and looks me in the eyes.

"There's something I need to show you then. It completes the story, more or less." I tilt my head, looking at him strangely.

"Think back Jamie. How many times, besides the pool, did you ever see me without my jacket on?" He asks me. And as I think back, I realize that the answer is never. I just look at him, and he understands.

"That's mostly out of habit now. My father used to beat me. Hard. He's not a small man, if you remember. I wore a jacket so that my friends would not see the bruises and scars he inflicted upon me." He says, pulling his jacket off.

"The bruises are faded, most of them gone completely. The scars are old and they've faded as well, but you can still feel them. It's too dark out to try and see them, so..." He says, and I get the picture. I reach over and rub my hand along his arm. He's right, in the daylight they're nearly invisible. But I can still feel the scars lacing over his arms. Some short, some long, some more prominent than others. I feel down along towards his wrist, and he pulls away from me.

"C'mon. Let's go back to the dorm. We've had enough of my sappy, traumatic past for one night." He says, smiling in the faint light. Without warning, he drops down from the branch to the ground, landing silently. I look around, but I realize that the branch I broke off is the only way down.

"Um... I'm kind of stuck." I say, and he laughs slightly.

"Just jump." He says, holding his arms out. I look down, and suddenly it seems a lot further. After I don't move for a minute, he calls out.

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course." I say without hesitation.

"Then jump. I'll catch you. Don't worry." He says. After just a second of steeling my nerves, I slide off the branch and down the twelve feet or so to the ground. Macas catches me in his arms so easily, it doesn't even feel like I stopped.

"I told you not to worry." He says as he puts me down. We walk along in silence for a moment before I realize that he's not wearing his coat, he's just carrying it.

"Aren't you going to put your jacket back on? It's cold out here." I say, and I see him hold it up.

"Nah." He says, and in a surprise move slides it onto my shoulders.

"You look like you need it more than I do." He says as we continue walking. I would never tell him that, but I was starting to get cold. I hug it tightly onto me, feeling it's warmth and comfort as we walk along in silence.

When we reach mine and Jeremie's room, I stop.

"Thanks for telling me Macas." I say, and he smiles at me.

"Thanks for listening." He replies. I try to give him back his jacket, but he refuses.

"Keep it. I don't need it anymore." He says, and I just stare at him. After just a second, he wraps me up in a hug.

"G'night Jamie. I'll see you in the morning." He says, and kisses me on the cheek before he walks away. I watch in silence until he enters the stairwell and goes down, completely soundless.

_He's really not a shy person... just private._

"G'night Macas... I love you." I whisper to myself before I open the door and walk inside my room.

* * *

_**If you're still watching and waiting for updates from this story, please do me a favor and leave a review saying so. Give me some critique, tell me what bothered you. What you liked, whatever. Just to let me know that people are still reading this. I'll finish the story whether people are or not, but I'm not going to bother to post the next story if no one is going to read it.**_

_**Anybody remember my quotes? Here we go again!**_

599. Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.

597. Girls are always running through my mind. They don't dare walk.

607. Sharks don't eat you, they bite you and spit you out. Scientists don't know why. I know. When a shark bites you, you crap in your pants.


	37. Resolution

_**Yes, I know it's been a while. I still intend to update though. Thanks to everyone who's been bugging me about it.**_

_**And this is indeed the last chapter of this story. Next one will hopefully not take too long to get up.  
**_

* * *

(Jeremie P.O.V.)

As I enter my room coming back from the showers, still rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I notice that Jamie is awake and sitting up in bed.

"Morning," I say casually, and she smiles at me.

"Morning Jeremie," She replies, and rubs a little bit of sleep out of her own eyes, using her red jacket.

_Wait a minute, red jacket?_

Upon closer inspection, I notice that the jacket is very familiar, although not on Jamie. It's the one Macas always wears. Somehow, she got a hold of it, and she wore it to bed.

"Jamie... is that... Macas' jacket?" She glances down, then looks back up at me, looking a little sheepish.

"Uh huh," She mumbles out, blushing slightly.

"Where did you get it? Did you go into his room and take it?" I ask her, taking hold of the first conclusion I can think of. She shakes her head vigorously.

"No, he gave it to me."

"When?"

"Last night." After hearing that term so many times at school, every single one of them used for a sexual connotation, I immediately jump to bad conclusions.

"What did you do with him last night?!?" I exclaim, and she blinks at me stupidly a few times before she answers.

"I had hot sex with him in his room." If it wasn't for the grin on her face, I know I would have lost my mind right then and there.

"Please tell me that you're joking," I say exasperated.

"No Jeremie. I'm totally not joking," She says, sarcasm thick in her voice.

"Okay, the joking was bad. But the sarcasm is even worse. Are you telling me Macas has shown up?"

"Yeah, pretty much. When I left yesterday, I went out into the woods, and he found me. He told me his story, and walked me back here."

"So where was he? Did he tell you?"

"He just said he'd been around in the park, around campus and the city."

"Alright, then I suppose we'll see him at breakfast."

(Odd P.O.V.)

I stumble into the closet, grab a random towel, a change of clothes, and walk out the door. I walk along lazily, heading for the showers. I'm in no rush, I've actually woken up a bit earlier than usual, so I have plenty of time for my shower.

As I round the corner to where Jeremie's room is, I spot someone that I wasn't expecting to see.

Macas is there, nearly fully dressed. He's wearing a simple pair of jeans with a gray tank top, and has a towel slung over his shoulder, obviously having just come back from his shower. The strange thing is though, that he's standing and staring at a door. Just staring at it.

It's such a bizarre sight, that I have to move closer. I was expecting to find someone in the doorway, maybe talking to him. But no, it's a closed door. And he's just staring at it, he hasn't even seen me yet.

After a quick double-take, I realize that it's the door to Jeremie's room. Or, more importantly at the moment, Jamie's room.

_Why is Macas just staring at Jamie's room?_

I almost decide to just leave him be, and take a different route to the showers, but I decide that maybe it would be better to talk to him. I walk even closer, and he still doesn't notice me. He's absolutely oblivious to the fact that I'm there.

After a moment, he begins to walk again, but keeps his eyes on her door. I figure that if I'm going to say something, it's now or never.

"Please tell me you're thinking about Jamie, not Jeremie like that." He jumps about a foot into the air, shaking his head and looking at me.

"Wait, what? Jeremie… do I look gay to you Odd?" I just shrug my shoulders, grinning slightly. We stand there awkwardly for a moment, I have a question but I'm not sure I want to ask it.

"So, where have you been?" He just shrugs.

"Out. Not really anywhere."

"What did you do?" He shrugs again.

"Not much. Just kind of walked around."

"You're very vague, you know that?" I ask, walking forward.

"Yeah, I know. I'm pretty good at it, too." Our conversation kind of drifts off again, but I decide to end it before it gets any more awkward.

"Whatever. I've got to go shower. I'll see you at breakfast."

"See you."

We walk past each other, me to the showers, and him to his room, presumably.

* * *

After my shower, I head back to my room, still toweling off my hair. As I walk by Jeremie's room, I remember what I had seen earlier, and decide to inform him and Jamie of the fact that Macas has come back, so they won't be surprised during breakfast.

I knock three times, and hear Jamie's voice say 'come in!'

I open the door and pull the towel off my head, holding it at my side.

"Hey guys," I say, seeing Jeremie at his computer and Jamie sitting upright on her bed.

"Hi Odd," Jeremie says, swiveling around in his chair. "What's going on?"

"Well, I just came by to tell you that…" I begin, but I trail off as I notice Jamie's red jacket, which looks oddly familiar.

"Macas came back?" Jeremie finishes, and I snap out of my stupor.

"Yeah. But I'm assuming that you two already know that. Nice jacket, Jamie." She smiles bashfully, turning away.

"Did he tell you where he went? All he told me was 'out.' He was kind of vague about it all."

"Around town and in the forest," Jamie says. I shrug, running my hands through my still-wet hair.

"You look weird with your hair down," Jamie says quietly, and I laugh.

"I know. I used to wear it like this before I ever went to Lyoko. What do you think?" I ask, grinning and striking a pose. She rolls her eyes and shakes her head.

"I like your hair the way you usually do it."

"Thanks. Anyways, I'd better go. We really need to get you your own room, don't we?" She shrugs.

"That'd be nice. But I don't mind sharing with Jeremie."

"Well, at least he probably doesn't mumble in his sleep about Aelita anymore. See you guys at breakfast." I walk out and close the door, heading back to my own room.

* * *

Seeing as Ulrich has already left, I presume to go meet Yumi, I gel my hair up, grab my stuff, and head for the cafeteria. I grab my tray and load it up with as many waffles as Rosie would give me, smother it in syrup, a few strips of bacon, and some orange juice. I walk to the table and see Jeremie, Jamie, Ulrich, Yumi and Macas sitting there, eating in silence.

"Hey guys," I say, sitting down in my usual spot.

"Hey," Ulrich replies casually. I look around, and while everyone else is eating, Macas is already done, and is just sitting there. We all have a ton of questions we want to ask, but none of us are brave enough to actually ask him.

Normally, I'd expect Ulrich to just pipe up and ask him, but he seems content to just stare at his plate and pick at his food a little bit.

Shrugging it off, I begin to eat. Normally, I hate awkward silences such as these, but I don't think anybody is in the mood for a bad joke to lighten the mood. I dig into my food eagerly, forcing my thoughts away from the situation.

"Hey Odd," Ulrich says after a few minutes, "you might want to stop stuffing your face long enough to say hi to your girlfriend." I suddenly stop and swallow, choking slightly. I spin around to see Krys and Aelita walking towards us. Without thinking, I immediately get up, walk over, and give Krys a hug, making sure not to spill her tray of food.

"Morning Krys," I say with a smile, which she returns happily.

"Hi Odd." I walk with her over to the table, where she sits next to me and Aelita takes her spot next to Jeremie.

Everyone seems to be very quiet today, something which never happens. No one is talking, we're all just eating quietly, except for Macas, who has already finished, and Jeremie, who is typing away on his laptop.

It's not that things are… tense. Tense isn't the right word. No one is angry with each other, we're all just silent, and seem to be content with that.

After a while, everyone has finished eating, and has pushed their empty trays towards the middle.

And out of nowhere, Macas suddenly decides to speak.

"Look guys," he says quickly, as though he wants to say it before he loses his nerve, "I'm sorry I left without an explanation for so long. It was stupid, selfish, and…." He gets suddenly cut off by Jamie, who has put her hand over his mouth.

"No apologies necessary," she says shortly, and I find myself nodding in agreement.

"It's okay Macas. You took a little time off. I think everyone needs that at one point or another. We understand," Jeremie says for all of us.

"Really? But I was gone for…." He's cut off once again by Jamie's hand.

"No, really. It's okay. Did you think we'd be angry at you?" Yumi asks curiously, as though it was a foreign concept to her.

Macas shrugs, "I didn't really know what to think. But I figured that since I left in a rush, left no sign of where I was, didn't call or anything…" He trails off this time.

"It's fine, really," I pipe up, hoping it isn't a bad time for a joke, "and besides, we knew that you could kick anyone's ass while you were gone, so it's not like we were worried about you." This emits a little laughter from the group. While it was only a little, it went a long way in relieving the awkwardness.

"So, Macas. What did you do, really?" Ulrich asks, suddenly curious. Macas shrugs again, leaning back in his chair.

"Pretty much nothing. Walked around all day, wandered through the woods a bit. That's really it."

"Stopped a mugging?" Jeremie asks, and we all stare at him.

"What?" Several of us ask incredulously at once. Jeremie points his laptop more toward the center of the table and begins to read from it.

"Last night around 11:30 PM, nine-one-one received a call from a cell phone. It was a male, saying he had stopped a mugging and had rendered the criminal unconscious. The vigilante then said that he found cocaine on the mugger, along with a purse that had been stolen. When the operator told the young man to stay there, he refused and hung up. By the time police got there, the young man was gone, but the criminal was still there, along with the cocaine and stolen purse. The mugger, a man by the name of Alec Browning, was put under arrest and taken in for questioning. In exchange for a lighter sentence, Browning revealed information on the vigilante. Reportedly a fifteen-year-old male with medium length brown hair, about five-foot-nine, wearing a white t-shirt and jeans. While the mugger was distracted, the vigilante attacked and subdued him. The victim of the mugging has yet to come forth."

"And look, it even has a police sketch," Aelita says, turning the laptop around so we can see the picture.

"Wow Macas, that looks an awful lot like you…" Yumi says thoughtfully.

"Yeah, well…" Macas stutters.

"Is that you?" Jeremie asks, and Macas shrugs.

"Well, it's not as cool as it sounds." I stare at him disbelievingly, just like everyone else at the table.

"You did that?"

"Yes. But I'm telling you, it's not nearly as cool as it sounds. One hit to the back of the neck and he's out like a light."

"So… what happened?" Yumi asks, "What did you do, why were you there?"

"Nothing really happened. I was just walking along and I saw the guy holding the other one up against the wall threatening him. I walked up behind him and told him to back off. He laughed at me, and told me 'stay out of our business kid.' Then I just hit him in the back of the neck and he fell unconscious."

"Wow. You're like a hero now," I say, grinning. "Like a real-life hero, not just a Lyokian hero."

"More like vigilante, so says the police report."

"Vigilante, hero, whatever. What happened after that?" Aelita asks, pressing for details.

"Like I said, not much. The guy who was getting mugged thought I was going to mug him too. I told him I wasn't, but he wouldn't listen. He said 'here's my money,' threw a bunch of bills on the ground, and drove off before I could say anything else."

"So you got some free cash out of it?" I ask, grinning huge. He shrugs, grinning at my childishness.

"Yeah, actually." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a wad of cash. I see a couple twenties, a few fives, and a few ones in there. "Anyone want to go out to eat later? My treat."

"Wahoo! Macas, you're the greatest!" I yell, causing people from all over the lunchroom to turn and look. But they're used to my bizarre antics, so they just ignore me.

I sit back down as I realize that our conversation has died again. I look around, and everyone is shifting uncomfortably, and looking around anxiously. Macas looks abnormally contemplative, holding his head in his hand and staring at the same spot on the table.

"Something else is bothering you," Jamie says. She says it quietly, like always. But it wasn't a question, it was a statement. Not even an unsure statement. She knows.

We all wait quietly, listening to what his response will be. I'm content to let them talk, and we'll just listen.

"I… I can't do it."

"Do what?" She prods gently.

"I can't fight anymore. I spent a lot of time thinking while I was gone. I can't go to Lyoko." If this surprised anyone, no one showed it.

"Why not?" Jamie asks, laying her hand on his shoulder.

"I feel like I'm perched right on the edge. I'm so close to a nervous breakdown that I can feel it. I feel like I could snap at anytime, go berserk, and hurt people. And if I do lose it, I don't want to be on Lyoko when it happens. I'd be worse than a liability or a dead weight, I'd be an enemy, and you'd have to take me out."

"You underestimate yourself. You're one of the strongest people I know." Macas shakes his head fervently.

"You overestimate me. I'm not as strong as you think I am…."

"You are every bit as strong as I think you are. And I know, we know, that you can pull through this," Jamie says a bit louder and more forcefully.

"You don't have to go to Lyoko right away," Yumi adds.

"We'll just keep you here for a while," Aelita says sweetly.

"Just until you can get your head back on you," Ulrich mentions with a smile.

"But… what if it doesn't happen? What if I can't pull myself together?" Macas says, shaking his head again and covering his face with his hands. Jamie gently pulls his hands away and turns his chin to make him look at her.

"You will." Jeremie's laptop beeps loudly, that shrill alarm that everyone has grown to hate. Jeremie quickly pulls open the lid and glances at the screen.

"Activated tower in the forest sector. Xana must be eager to try and pick us apart, attacking again so soon," He says shortly, closing the lid again.

"Looks like it's 'yoo hoo it's us' time again," I say with a grin.

"What?" Macas asks, looking up at me.

"Oh, that's right. You don't know about that. 'Yoo hoo it's us' is what I call our game plan: Xana attacks, we go to Lyoko, 'Yoo hoo it's us,' we kick his butt and we're home before dinner."

"Odd you are so weird," He says shortly, rolling his eyes.

"No, I'm Odd," I say with a grin, and everyone groans.

"Enough. There's time for that later. Right now we need to be going." The voice of reason is Jeremie, who stands up.

"I'll stay here on the home front. You guys go without me," Macas says, standing up as well.

"Be careful. You never know what Xana's up to," I say, carefully choosing my words.

"I know. Now go, quick. Deactivate the tower, it won't take long with all of you working together."

Without another word, our entire group, sans Macas, runs off to the factory.

* * *

_**And that's the end of Code Prophecy: Stars in the Night.**_

_**Code Prophecy: The Chosen One should be up soon. And it starts with a bang, I assure you.  
**_


End file.
